PASADENA – from www.pasadenastarnews. – Prosecutors revealed in court Tuesday that actress and model Felicia Lee of Monrovia had been beaten with a “coat hanger-like object” and then suffocated by having her head held into a pillow or the floor.
The new details of Lee’s slaying were disclosed at the arraignment of her boyfriend, Brian Randone, a former minister and mime who was featured on a 2000 Fox reality show “The Sexiest Bachelor in America.”
Randone has been charged with torturing and killing Lee, 31, who starred in soft-core porn movies and modeled under the name Felicia Tang. Randone, 45, is being held in lieu of $2 million bail. He pleaded not guilty Tuesday.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Terry Smerling referred to
Brian Lee Randone, the self proclaimed preacher and mime who was on “America’s Sexiest Bachelor,” looks back at his supporters as they stand for the judge during his arraignment Tuesday, September 29, 2009 at Los Angeles County Superior Court in Pasadena on torture and murder of his girlfriend Felicia Lee, an ex-porn actress, in their Monrovia home September 11. (SGVN/Staff Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz/SXCITY)
postmortem pictures of Lee as “gruesome” in his decision to seal those photographs from public record.
“I’m not sure what the purpose of those photos is other than to inflame the court,” Randone’s defense attorney Mark Overland said.
Deputy District Attorney Phillip Wojdak included the pictures as part of a motion to increase Randone’s bail to $3 million.
“The wounds to her legs and arms were made by a thin, flexible, coat hanger-like object,” Wojdak said. She suffocated from “the defendant holding her head down into a pillow or the floor.”
Overland argued the charges are part of the same “event” and requested that Randone’s bail be reduced to $500,000 on the grounds he poses neither a threat to the community nor a flight risk.
“Mr. Randone has never been arrested before,” Overland said. “Mr. Randone is part owner of an assisted care facility” in California.
Police discovered Lee’s body inside the couple’s Monrovia apartment on Sept. 11 after Randone dialed 9-1-1, Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Brian Schoonmaker said.
“The investigation is still in its infant stages,” Schoonmaker said. “He’s lived so many different places we have to play catch up” in order to piece together Randone’s past.
About 13 of Randone’s family and friends attended Tuesday’s arraignment.
Randone’s father, Angelo Randone, travelled from Randone’s childhood home of Omaha, Neb. for the hearing.
Randone remained silent in court, only yawning at times throughout the proceedings.