Man Convicted of Abduction, Murder

SANTA ANA — A jury took slightly more than five hours Thursday to convict a former house painter of kidnapping, sexually assaulting and murdering a Newport Beach woman whose body he kept in a freezer--nude and handcuffed--for three years.

John J. Famalaro, 39, stared straight ahead and showed no emotion as the first-degree murder verdict was read. The jury must next decide whether he should be sentenced to death for killing 23-year-old Denise Huber, whom he had picked up after her car broke down on a freeway.

The victim’s parents, Dennis and Ione Huber, wept silently for several minutes after the verdict was read and hugged tightly before leaving the courtroom.

“Justice is finally here,” said Dennis Huber, 57, his eyes red with tears. “We’ve waited for this day for a long time.”

The Hubers, surrounded by friends and family, said the swiftness of the verdict didn’t surprise them.

“The truth came out,” Dennis Huber said. “It’s a tremendous help. It’s not going to bring Denise back, it’s not closure.”

“But we’re glad justice has been served,” added Ione Huber, 53.

The couple, married 33 years, said they plan to attend the trial’s penalty phase, which begins Thursday. Both said they want to see Famalaro sentenced to death.

“The man who did that is that much closer to meeting his justice--the death penalty,” Dennis Huber said.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Christopher Evans and Famalaro’s attorneys declined to comment on the verdict, citing the penalty phase.

In an attempt to keep their client from being convicted of special circumstances that would make him eligible for the death penalty, Famalaro’s attorneys conceded that he killed Huber but said Famalaro did not kidnap or sodomize her. They said the former house painter had picked Huber up with the intention of seducing her, not killing her.

Deputy Public Defender Denise Gragg told the jury this week that Famalaro hit Huber with a hammer in a “spontaneous attack” because Huber was running from him or resisting a sexual overture.

Gragg conceded this week that Famalaro killed Huber after encountering the stranded motorist on the Corona del Mar Freeway. Huber’s tire went flat as she was headed home from a rock concert on June 3, 1991. She was less than three miles from home.

The shocking discovery of Huber’s body stored in a freezer inside a moving truck that was parked in the driveway of Famalaro’s Arizona home ended one of the most famous missing person cases in Orange County history.

A woman visiting Famalaro thought it odd that the truck was parked there and called police. They found it was stolen and looked inside, anticipating that they would find drugs. Instead, they found Huber’s body.

During the trial, prosecutor Evans painted a grisly portrait of the crime. He said Famalaro took the victim to a Laguna Hills warehouse, where he sodomized her.

The prosecutor said Famalaro put three plastic bags over the young woman’s head and struck her in the head at least 31 times with a roofer’s nail puller. Evans said the blows were so “fierce and devastating” that parts of the bags were found embedded in Huber’s skull.

Before the jury began its deliberations Thursday, Evans spent the morning trying to rebut the defense assertion that Huber went willingly with Famalaro to the warehouse and that he killed her in an attempted seduction that turned violent.

The defense had also suggested that Huber’s judgment may have been impaired by alcohol she had consumed, leading her to mistakenly trust Famalaro. Her blood-alcohol level was between 0.08% and 0.11% when she got the flat tire.

Evans responded angrily to what he considered to be a “thinly veiled” attack on Huber’s judgment the night she was killed.

“Denise Huber, you didn’t make a mistake,” Evans said. “You got murdered. You got kidnapped. You got sodomized. It’s not your fault.”

Famalaro’s attorneys did not explain why he kept the victim’s body inside a locked freezer for three years other than to say he was driven by a “deep compulsion.”

Evans said Famalaro kept the body as a “trophy” and as a way of hiding evidence.

The scenario painted by Famalaro’s attorneys that Huber was neither kidnapped or sexually assaulted before her murder was “wishful thinking,” Evans said.

Famalaro’s 71-year-old mother, Anne, sat through much of the trial but was not present when the decision was read.

While they have a verdict, the Hubers are left with many unanswered questions. How long was Denise alive after she was abducted from the side of the Corona del Mar Freeway? How much did she suffer before her death?

“Some of them we may never know,” Dennis Huber said.

“But we know who did it,” Ione Huber added.