LOS ANGELES — A woman charged in the 2008 murder of an aspiring model-actress whose body was discovered in her Santa Monica apartment received hundreds of thousands of dollars from a business associate of the victim’s father, according to a published report.
Kelly Soo Park, 44, was charged last week in the death of 21-year-old Juliana Redding.
Prosecutors said Park was paid $250,000 three weeks before the killing, and her family received another payment of $113,400 days before Park’s arrest, The Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.
Prosecutors said the money came from Park’s employer, Dr. Munir Uwaydah, a Marina del Rey physician who was involved in a failed business deal with the victim’s father, Greg Redding. Uwaydah was convicted in 2005 of defrauding a medical supply company of nearly $1 million and currently is being investigated for possibly filing millions of dollars in fraudulent insurance claims, The Times reported.
Uwaydah’s attorney, Henry Fenton, said his client had nothing to do with the murder. Fenton said he was unaware of any of the allegations about the payment to Park or fraud. According to the attorney, Uwaydah was traveling outside the country and unreachable.
Redding’s body was discovered March 16, 2008, after her mother called authorities to say she was unable to reach her. Redding moved from Arizona to Santa Monica to pursue her acting and modeling career. She had a role in a small 2005 movie, and was featured in a photo layout in Maxim magazine, winning one of the magazine’s “Hometown Hottie” contests.
Greg Redding, was “involved in a business negotiation with Dr. Uwaydah that fell apart … five days before the murder charged in this case,” Santa Monica Detective Karen Thompson wrote in a bail motion obtained by the newspaper.
The Times reported Park received a monthly salary of $10,000 as Uwaydah’s employee in addition to the two lump-sum payments police believe the doctor made. Police also said records from Uwaydah’s office showed he made a third payment of an unknown amount to a South Korean bank account in Park’s name days before she was arrested.
On Friday, prosecutors revealed the payments as part of a request that the judge in the case raise Park’s bail to $5 million from $1 million. Judge Keith Schwartz was expected to rule on the increased bail at a hearing Monday morning.
Park faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted. She is being held in lieu of $1 million bail.
Her roommate, 34-year-old Ronnie Wayne Case, was also arrested in connection with the murder. Pending further investigation, prosecutors declined to immediately charge Case.
Santa Monica police said there could be more arrests in the case.