Charles Rathbun

Overview

Charles Rathbun was a freelance photographer who was sentenced to life in prison in California on December 16, 1996 for the slaying of model Linda Sobek.

Timeline

• November 16, 1995 — Linda Sobek, 27, contacted by phone during a last-minute modeling job, was killed during a photo shoot.
• November 24, 1995 — Rathbun voluntarily turned himself in and told police he had accidentally killed Sobek while demonstrating for her how to drive a sport-utility truck; he later led investigators to a location in Angeles National Forest where she was buried.
• March 6, 1994 — The Ohio State freshman Stephanie Hummer disappeared.
• March 7, 1994 — Stephanie Hummer’s body was found.
• 1992 — Model Kimberly Pandelios was found murdered in a Southern California national park.
• 1997 — John Ortiz-Kehoe was convicted of murdering and dismembering Rose Larner.
• December 16, 1996 — Rathbun was sentenced to life in prison in California.
• March 2006 — David Rademaker, 42, was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the slaying of Kimberly Pandelios.
• January 18, 2006 — Columbus, Ohio police homicide detectives announced a DNA match that led to the arrest of Jonathan J. Gravely in Stephanie Hummer’s 1994 death and he confessed.

Background

Linda Sobek was a 27-year-old former Los Angeles Raiders “Raiderette” who had turned to modeling and had modest success posing in magazines such as Grapevine and nude photo sets. She had had plans to move from pin-up modeling to serious acting and was scheduled to audition for a part on the low-brow sitcom “Married with Children.” Her family testified that she was a born-again Christian who frequently posed in skimpy bikinis for calendars and who enjoyed the suggestive dancing of professional cheerleading/dance teams.

Rathbun was described as an automotive photographer who specialized in pictures found in magazines like Car and Driver or Motor Trend. The material also described him as having once stood trial for rape in Ohio and being acquitted. It stated that he was a successful photographer, that he was an enigma to his neighbors, and that he had been unsuccessful with women. It also stated that he twice attempted suicide due to guilt over killing Sobek.

Sobek’s friends and family recalled that she was almost always cheerful and was the type of woman who, if she hadn’t talked to you in a few days, would drop a card in the mail “just because.”

The offence

The material stated that Rathbun contacted Sobek from a pay phone on November 16, 1995 and asked her if she would pose for an upcoming issue. It said Sobek left her Hermosa Beach home and drove to a remote mountain region outside of Los Angeles for the photo session.

Rathbun’s account was that Sobek accidentally asphyxiated during an argument after a driving stunt in the Angeles National Forest. He also claimed he hid Sobek’s body in a state of panic and that he buried her using his hands to dig the grave.

The prosecution presented evidence that Sobek was raped at the time of her death and that her strangulation was intentional. The coroner reported that Sobek was asphyxiated by someone sitting on her back and pushing her throat against something that cut off her air supply. It also stated that prior to her death Sobek had been sexually assaulted with a blunt object.

The material stated that Sobek had been legally drunk and was engaging in sexual intercourse at the time of her death, with a .13 percent blood alcohol reading at the time of autopsy; the California legal blood alcohol level for driving at that time was .08 percent.

It stated that Rathbun was bound at the ankles by him and then sodomized, possibly with Rathbun’s .45-caliber handgun. It also stated that Sobek struggled so forcefully that her ankles were rubbed almost raw, and it described graphic photos from her autopsy being displayed at trial.

The material stated that jurors found purported sexually oriented photographs displayed by the defense inside the SUV not credible and that they wondered if the photos were faked. It stated the prosecution countered with forensic evidence that Sobek had been anally raped with a handgun at some point prior to the sex strangling.

Rathbun was found guilty of first-degree murder and of tying up Sobek during a brutal sexual assault that may have involved his .45-caliber pistol. The material further stated that he was found guilty of first degree murder and rape.

Investigation

When Linda Sobek failed to return home from the session, worried friends and relatives contacted local authorities. It stated that calls came in from across the world after the case caught the attention of the media.

Deputy Gabe Ramirez said: “I couldn’t even begin to tell you the number of calls,” and that calls came in from across the world.

The material stated that on November 16, 1995 Sobek left a cryptic message on her answering machine indicating she was unavailable because she had taken a last-minute modeling job and that she did not tell anyone the nature of the assignment or who the photographer was. It further stated that her body lay in a shallow grave in the mountainous national forest for a week before it was found.

It stated that Rathbun in a drunken state called a friend and confessed that he “had something to do” with her disappearance. It further stated that over the phone he stated that he had a gun and was planning to kill himself. The material stated that the friend, a female reserve deputy with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, dismissed his claim but rushed to his house to stop him from harming himself. It stated that it took some time to get Rathbun to leave his house while she and another friend stood in the driveway and that when he did he accidentally fired his weapon; the shot ricocheted off the asphalt and injured the deputy.

It stated that police nearly blew the case when they failed to advise Rathbun of his rights before he was interrogated and confessed. It stated that Rathbun’s drunken, rambling confession, during which he vomited on himself, was eventually tossed out by a judge. It also stated that Rathbun agreed to take police to the gravesite and that Sobek’s body was recovered.

The material described “coincidences” that brought Rathbun to law enforcement agencies across the country and stated that investigators were looking at possibilities involving other unresolved cases.

Sheriff Sherman Block said at a news conference: “We have people who’ve come forward who have indicated that there was acquaintanceship between Rathbun and Kimberly Pandelios,” and: “We are now including the Pandelios case as a formal part of this investigation.”

Sheriff Sherman Block also said: “In addition to the Linda Sobek murder we are looking at possibilities of the involvement of the suspect Charles Rathbun and some other possible unresolved cases, including the Kimberly Pandelios case,”

The material stated that Block said witnesses told investigators that Rathbun and Pandelios met at a Denny’s restaurant. It also stated that Sobek’s missing car was found last week at a Denny’s lot just off the San Diego (405) Freeway in Torrance.

It stated that Block said a number of women came forward to claim that Rathbun “made overtures to them for sexual favors … sometimes on photo shoots,” and that when they refused his advances, Block said Rathbun became pretty pushy and: “He didn’t like to take no for an answer.”

The material said Rathbun quickly became a person of interest in the murder of Stephanie Hummer near Rathbun’s father’s house in Columbus, Ohio. It stated that he was once a student at OSU. It stated that Hummer disappeared March 6, 1994 and her body was found the next day. It also stated that the material reported he became a suspect in the 1993 murder of 19-year-old Rose Larner, that Rathbun lived in the Lansing area at the time of Larner’s disappearance, and that she was last seen in a Delphi Township neighborhood near where Rathbun had a mailing address.

Columbus police Lt. Dan Wood said: “I think some of these links are pure speculation by the national media,” and: “I wouldn’t even call them weak. I haven’t seen any proof yet.”

Arrest

On November 24, 1995, Rathbun voluntarily turned himself in. The material stated that he informed police that he had accidentally killed Sobek with a sport-utility truck while demonstrating for her how to drive the vehicle during the session in the mountains. It stated that he then claimed that he hid Sobek’s body in a state of panic.

Trial

The material stated that Rathbun’s five-week trial focused on the gruesome nature of Sobek’s death. It stated that prosecutors sought a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

It stated that prosecutor Steve Kay told the court: “The amount of excruciating pain Linda Sobek must have suffered . . . defies comprehension,” and: “The thing that stands out most for me is the defendant's complete lack of remorse at what he did.”

It also stated that the district attorney’s office concluded it would be difficult to win a death penalty because Rathbun had no felony convictions and led authorities to Sobek’s body.

The material stated that Deputy District Attorney Steven Kay told the jury at Rathbun’s trial: “I think he took her out there to see what he could get.”

The material described Rathbun’s defense as claiming Sobek was accidentally asphyxiated after she enticed Rathbun into having sex while drunk on tequila and that purported sexually oriented photographs of Sobek taken inside the SUV were evidence that sex between Sobek and Rathbun was consensual. It stated that jurors did not find those photographs credible.

Sentencing

On December 16, 1996, Sobek’s sentencing took place in a Torrance courtroom. It stated that Judge Donald F. Pitts granted the prosecution’s request to sentence Rathbun to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Sobek’s father Bob told the packed courtroom: “I have never known what it was like to despise someone like I despise this person,” and: “God will punish you, Charlie.”

Judge Donald F. Pitts acknowledged the ordeal of Sobek’s family and said: “Obviously, no one who has not endured the loss of a child . . . can possibly understand your grief, your anger,” and: “Mr. Rathbun,” followed by: “I don't know if you realize the pain you have caused--first to Linda Sobek and then to her family.”

Outcome

Rathbun was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Other details

The material said that Rathbun was charged with murder and placed on suicide watch after slitting his wrists. It stated that an autopsy coroner’s spokesman told reporters Sobek’s injuries were “inconsistent” with Rathbun’s claim.

It also stated that Rathbun admitted he bet Sobek $60 that she could not chug the remnants of a bottle of tequila.

The material described a 1996 Lexus SUV involvement, stating Rathbun was photographing a 1996 Lexus SUV for Motor Week prior to the vehicle’s public release and was showing off by doing doughnuts in a dry lake bed when he clipped Sobek with a mirror.

It said that Sobek left a cryptic message on her answering machine on November 16, 1995, and that her body lay in a shallow grave in Angeles National Forest north of Los Angeles for a week before it was found.

The material stated that the case was later sensationalised in a book, Fatal Photographs, and a film, The Story of Ken and Barbie.

It included the quote: “Coincidences are spiritual puns.” ~G.K. Chesterton.

It also included a statement about Rathbun’s sentencing coming six weeks after a jury found the 39-year-old freelance photographer from Hollywood guilty of sodomizing and strangling Sobek during a photo shoot in November 1995 on a dry lake bed near Palmdale.