Man Suspected of Assaulting, Kidnapping Girlfriend Arrested, Woman Missing
Man Suspected of Assaulting, Kidnapping Girlfriend Arrested, Woman Missing
by Contributing Editor
A man suspected of assaulting and kidnapping his girlfriend in Monrovia remained jailed Wednesday, but the case took a chilling twist with the release of video that appears to show him rapping in a downtown bar about killing a woman.
Robert Anthony Camou, 27, was arrested around 7:30 a.m. Tuesday after a nearly five-hour standoff in downtown Los Angeles. He had been on the lam since around 8 a.m. Monday, when sheriff’s officials say he was spotted by a witness placing his possibly unconscious girlfriend in the trunk of a gray Toyota Prius in the 600 block of Vaquero Road in Monrovia.
Sheriff’s officials say blood was found in the home where the woman — Amanda Kathleen Custer, 31 — was allegedly assaulted and abducted. Authorities said Camou’s car was reported to have been shortly after the alleged kidnapping traveling north on Padua Road in Claremont toward Mount Baldy.
“Anyone on or off road, in the area of Mount Baldy — Mount Baldy Road, Glendora Ridge Road, Glendora Mountain Road — on Monday … between 9 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., that observed suspect Camou, victim Custer and/or the Toyota Prius, are encouraged to contact Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau,” Deputy Juanita Navarro-Suarez of the Sheriff’s Information Bureau said in a statement.
Los Angeles police found the 2017 Prius around 2:45 a.m. Tuesday near Hill and Second streets, and Camou was seen lying in the back seat, occasionally pretending to be asleep, police said. Camou refused to come out of the vehicle, but police eventually pumped tear gas into the car, flushing him out around 7:30 a.m. He was booked on suspicion of burglary and domestic violence and was being held without bail.
There was no sign of Custer, who remains missing.
Authorities said Camou and Custer had a tumultuous two-year relationship that included “numerous domestic violence incidents,” sheriff’s Lt. Scott Hoglund said. The pair lived just down the street from one another.
According to court records, Camou had been scheduled to appear in a Pasadena courtroom on Monday in connection with earlier charges including assault and domestic violence, but he was already on the lam and did not show up for the hearing, leading to an arrest warrant being issued. He is being held without bail pending a court appearance Thursday in connection with that case, according to Paul Eakins of the District Attorney’s Office.
A redacted copy of the criminal complaint in that case provided by the District Attorney’s Office identifies the alleged victim only as Amanda C. He was free in that case subject to electronic monitoring, over the objection of prosecutors, who had asked that he be held on $150,000 bail, prosecutors said.
Meanwhile, KTLA5 on Wednesday obtained cell phone video taken in a downtown Los Angeles bar Monday night — while Camou and Custer were being sought by authorities. The video appears to show Camou during an open-mic event, singing an expletive-laden rap about killing a woman.
“I killed my (expletive) and buried that (expletive) in the (expletive) dirt,” the man on the video is heard rapping. He goes on to claim he is being sought by police, before someone takes the microphone from him.
Detectives are aware of the video and want to speak to anyone who was present during the recording or saw Camou that night.
It was just hours after the video was taken that Camou was found inside the parked Prius.
The man who shot the video told KNX Newsradio that he didn’t realize at the time who the person on the video was or that he was suspected in an assault and kidnapping. But he said the man’s words made people in the bar uncomfortable.
Custer, who is described as white, 5 feet 8, 140 pounds with brown hair and green eyes.
She filed court papers in February seeking a restraining order against Camou, claiming he showed up uninvited at her home and broke a double-pane window with a hatchet, according to court documents cited by ABC7.
Anyone with information was urged to call the Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500. Anonymous tips can be submitted to Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS or lacrimestoppers.org.
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All credit goes to Contributing Editor
Originally published on https://mynewsla.com
