Nov. 17, 1957

Los Angeles

Let’s go back about six months before it happened out on a lonely road half a mile from the cemetery.

Monty was 19 and had just gotten out of the Deuel Vocational Institution for Men
at Tracy, Calif., after serving 14 months for stealing a car. Homer was
61, a distinguished bridge player who was the attending physician at
Olive View Sanitarium, a facility for tuberculosis patients. He lived
on the sanitarium grounds with his ailing wife, Adele. They apparently
had no children. 

Homer saw Monty hitchhiking in San Fernando and picked him up. After that,
Monty said, Homer helped him out financially. It’s unclear how well
they were acquainted, but Monty knew for certain where Homer lived and
when he got paid.

Monty was living in a hotel at 118 N. Maclay Ave.,
San Fernando, with his 16-year-old girlfriend, Diana Kay Maupin. He
figured they’d drive to Las Vegas and get married. But he needed money
and a car.

So he thought of Homer. Thursday was payday at the sanitarium, but a day passed before Monty acted on his plan.

A friend named Frederick G. Rhoads, 18, stopped by the hotel and as
they were speaking, Rhoads was sharpening his 3-inch, pearl-handled
knife. Monty asked if he could borrow it.

Once he had the knife, Monty went to Homer’s house. Monty said he
needed Homer’s money and his car so he could drive to Las Vegas and
marry Diana. Homer gave Monty $4. He wouldn’t let Monty have the car,
but offered to drive him back to the hotel.

Monty said fine, but he insisted on driving and Homer let him.

He knew Homer had kept back a dollar and Monty wanted that last dollar
bill. So instead of driving back to the hotel, where Diana was making dinner, Monty drove up Lopez Canyon Road and parked with Homer a mile north of Kagel Canyon Road, about half a mile from Glen Haven Cemetery.   

Monty told police that as they sat in the car on that lonely stretch of
road, Homer made "improper advances," according to The Times.  As Homer
struggled, Monty stabbed him once in the heart, once through the neck
and three times in the abdomen.

Then Monty took the remaining dollar from Homer’s wallet, shoved him
out of the car and down a culvert, and drove back to San Fernando.

Although he was bleeding terribly, Homer crawled up the roadway, where
he was found by a passing motorist. He died before anyone could save
him.

But instead of going to Las Vegas, Monty, Frederick and their
girlfriends went to a drive-in. When the young women excused themselves
from the car, Monty returned the bloody knife, saying: "I killed a guy
this afternoon. Let’s go up and bury him."

Frederick thought it was a joke. "He’s always blowing steam. So I went along for kicks. I didn’t believe him," Frederick said.

The young men dropped off the girls and went to the home of Monty’s parents, 10092 Vena Ave., Pacoima, to borrow a shovel with the excuse that a friend’s car was stuck in some sand up in the hills.

They dug a shallow grave at the end Maclay Street, but Frederick still
thought it was a joke. "I went along with the gag, but still thought he
was only kidding," Frederick said.

Monty drove back to the murder scene on Lopez Canyon Road, where he and
Frederick were arrested by sheriff’s deputies. Delmont F. "Monty"
Johann told investigators that Dr. Homer Van Horne had made "improper
advances" but police said "they had uncovered no evidence to
substantiate his story," The Times said.

Johann pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to life
in prison. Frederick G. Rhoads, 2026 1/2 Glenoaks Blvd., pleaded guilty
to being an accessory. The Times said he was to be sentenced April 22,
1958, but never reported the outcome.

The Times never said anything further about Johann or Rhoads. According
to California death records, Adele Van Horne died in 1963 at the age of
78.

So what are we to make of this? Was Homer really gay and the police and
The Times covered it up because of the stigma? Was Monty merely lying
to justify the killing and save himself?

We may suspect, but we may never know for sure. What’s certain is that
Monty expressed absolutely no remorse for the killing but said that in
hindsight he wished he had only hit Homer. He would have still taken
the money and the car.

I have to think that there is more to this story about an older man and
a troubled 19-year-old than what was in The Times. I suspect Monty had
something else in mind besides eloping to Las Vegas when he told
police: "I decided last Monday that I would have to do away with Dr.
Van Horne."

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