| For Immediate Release Case # 11HF0507 September 1, 2011 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Chief of Staff Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami |
CONNECTICUT INMATE EXTRADITED TO FACE ORANGE COUNTY MURDER CHARGE FOR
1978 COLD CASE STABBING-MURDER
OF ARCHITECT IN LAGUNA BEACH
SANTA ANA – A Connecticut inmate has been extradited to California to faces charges in Orange County for the 1978 cold case stabbing-murder of an architect in Laguna Beach. Walter Lawrence Dalie, 52, was charged Feb. 23, 2011, with one felony count of special circumstances murder during the commission of a robbery and a sentencing enhancement for the use of a deadly weapon. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life in state prison without the possibility of parole.
Dalie has been incarcerated in a Connecticut state prison serving a 50-year sentence for the 1985 murder of his girlfriend. He was transported today by the U.S. Marshals Service to the San Bernardino County Central Detention Center. He is expected to be transported to the Orange County Jail on Monday, Sept. 5, 2011, by the San Bernardino County Sheriff-Coroner Department and is expected to be arraigned on the murder charge Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2011, at 10:00 a.m. in Department CJ-1, Central Jail, Santa Ana. He is being held without bail.
On Nov. 20, 1978, then-19-year-old Dalie is accused of going to the Laguna Beach home of 55-year-old architect Brent Tobey with the intention of robbing him. The defendant is accused of stabbing Tobey 17 times in the back and head with a knife. He is accused of fleeing the scene.
Later that evening, the victim’s body was found in his bedroom by a roommate, who had plans with Tobey to go out to dinner that night. The Laguna Beach Police Department (LBPD) investigated the case, which went cold.
In 2002, LBPD sent items from the crime scene to the Orange County Crime Laboratory (OCCL) for analysis. OCCL found foreign DNA on one of the items and submitted the DNA sample to the local, State, and national DNA databases.
In August 2010, Dalie was linked to the murder through DNA. The LBPD was notified and the investigation was re-opened.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy of the Homicide Unit is prosecuting this case.
###