Videotape Leads To L.A. Murder Arrest

Police arrested a woman accused of killing a man in a park and then taking a pack of cigarettes from his pants as a motorist videotaped her.

Sheryl Mitchell, 38, was arrested on a bus Saturday after a passenger thought he recognized her from the videotape, which was broadcast on television news shows, police Lt. Greg Meyer said.

She was booked for investigation of murder in the Sept. 24 death of David Jacob Adire, 51, of North Hollywood.

The videotape shows Adire on his back with a woman astride him, her arm across his neck as bystanders scream for her to stop. The man struggled for about 30 seconds, then fell unconscious.

“She then searched his pants and removed what appeared to be a pack of cigarettes,” and walked off to catch a bus, said Detective Kelly Cooper.

The county coroner’s office said Adire died of a heart attack brought on by the trauma to his neck.