Slain woman had intruded on Beatle
Associated Press
TRUCKEE, Calif. » A woman involved in an apparent murder-suicide in California had an extensive arrest record, including charges of trespassing at the Hawaii home of former Beatle George Harrison, investigators said.
Cristin Keleher served four months in jail after her arrest for entering Harrison's house in Maui in December 1999, Nevada County sheriff's Lt. Ron Smith said.
She was accused of entering Harrison's home through an open sliding glass door, cooking a frozen pizza, doing her laundry and phoning her mother in New Jersey.
The bodies of Keleher, 34, and Stanley Merchant, 48, were found by a hiker Dec. 19 inside Merchant's blood-splattered sport utility vehicle near Highway 89 north of Truckee.
Investigators said evidence shows Keleher was fatally shot outside the vehicle, then placed inside and driven a short distance.
Investigators said they think Merchant then sat down next to Keleher's body and shot himself in the head. Two 12-gauge shotguns were found next to him inside the vehicle.
The couple were looking for a place to live in the Truckee area, and the case remains under investigation, Truckee's Sierra Sun newspaper reported.
Keleher was identified by a fingerprint card on file at the Truckee jail, Smith said, and investigators found "a rap sheet on her that was a couple pages long."
In Hawaii, Keleher was given one year of probation and ordered to return to her family in New Jersey after pleading no contest to misdemeanor charges she illegally entered Harrison's home.
She admitted she was in Harrison's home without his permission but said she was feeling sick and was seeking shelter from the rain. She told the court she loved Harrison and never meant him any harm.
Keleher was arrested a week before Harrison was stabbed in the chest by an intruder in his mansion near London. Harrison, who suffered a collapsed lung in the attack, died of cancer in 2001 at age 58.