Man In Shadows

After finishing their work at the crime scene, the two detectives drove to Northridge Hospital. They found April in the intensive care unit, paralyzed from the neck down.

"She was in critical condition," Szabo says. "She had tubes in her mouth and in her nose, she's on a breathing apparatus, her heart was being monitored, and she was heavily sedated."

It was obvious to the two veteran homicide investigators that they were not going to be able to talk to April. They told the doctors to call them immediately if she regained consciousness.

Meanwhile, Szabo and Galeria ran checks on their victims. Jamie Navaroli and April Mahoney lived on the jagged edges of L.A. society. They were high school dropouts. April suffered from dyslexia. Both had battled drug addiction. Jamie was a welder, but he also sold methamphetamine in West Hills and in the surrounding San Fernando Valley. The couple had little money and had lost their children to foster care. Still, they stuck together. Jamie's adopted father later said he thought April had been a positive influence in Jamie's life.

Something else the detectives learned was that Jamie and April were witnesses in an upcoming burglary trial.