DA: Murder Suspect Was the 'Muscle'

Kelly Soo Park was working as the "muscle" for her employer when prosecutors allege she murdered aspiring actress and model Juliana Redding four years ago in her Santa Monica apartment, according to new documents filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.

The District Attorney's Office is seeking to admit new evidence in its case against Park, which, the D.A. says, will show she had a history of intimidating business associates of Munir Uwaydah, a Marina Del Rey-based doctor.

On the night of Redding's murder, Park was sent to her apartment at the request of the doctor, the D.A. claims, to "intimidate and threaten" the actress after her father backed out of a business deal.

Park "has committed other distinctive acts of misconduct against similar victims under similar circumstances which exhibit common features of threats, intimidation and bullying for the purpose of assisting Dr. Uwaydah's business interests," the D.A. wrote in its motion.

Prosecutors say Park worked with her then-boyfriend, Robbie Case, as "debt collectors" in two other incidents—both took place after Redding was killed in March of 2008 but before the couple's arrest in 2010.

On June 24, 2008, the D.A. claims Park and Case flew to Kentucky to try to strong arm $350,000 from a man with whom Uwaydah had started a horse breeding company.

Two years later, they were allegedly sent to bully Jerry Lukiewski, the manager of Ventura County Business Bank. The D.A. said Lukiewski had grown leery of an investment scheme involving him, Park, Case and Uwaydah to take control of the bank.

According to the motion:

Investigators recovered a handheld recording device that contained a surreptitious audio record of Dr. Uwaydah's face-to-face meeting with Mr. Lukiewski during which Mr. Lukiwski talked about resigning from the bank. Immediately after Mr. Lukiewski left the room, [Park] re-entered and asked Dr. Uwaydah how he wanted to deal with Mr. Liukiewski. Specifically, the defendant asked Dr. Uwaydah if, 'Ronnie need[s] to choke some pople.'

Investigators also siezed Park's handrwitten to-do list, "which included, among other things, 'establish our strategy vis a vi [sic] Jerry' and 'how to apply pressure on Jerry?'"

A couple of weeks later, police intercepted and arrested Park and Case "on their way to intimidate Mr. Lukiewski." The D.A. charged Park with Redding's murder. Investigators said they recovered her DNA from the Redding's neck, cell phone and from a knob on the gas stove in her apartment.

Case was released. No charges were pressed against him or Uwaydah, who fled the country and currently lives in Lebanon.

In its motion, the D.A. wrote it is "not seeking to prove that [Park] murdered Ms. Redding at the direction of Dr. Uwaydah. Rather, the proffered evidence will establish the defendant's motive and intent when she confronted Ms. Redding on March 15, 2008."

Redding's body was discovered in her apartment in the 1500 block of Centinela Avenue just a few days after her father became suspicious of a deal he had with Uwaydah to run a pharmacy and manufacture a pain cream.

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