LA County detectives investigating disappearance of Monrovia woman as homicide

 In blog, Crime News: Los Angeles Daily News

LA County detectives investigating disappearance of Monrovia woman as homicide

by Ruby Gonzales

Detectives revealed more details Thursday, Aug. 8, on where a Monrovia man suspected of assaulting and kidnapping his girlfriend had been seen, while the father of the the victim made a plea for information that will help find his daughter.

Robert Camou, 27, was seen placing the lifeless body of Amanda Custer, 31, in the cargo area of a Prius the morning of July 29, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Homicide Lt. Scott Hoglund, before driving away from his Monrovia neighborhood. He said investigators later found blood and a “digging tool” in the vehicles’s cargo area. Camou is the prime suspect in what is now a homicide case, he said.

Camou hasn’t yet been arrested or charged in this case.

During a news conference Thursday at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau in Monterey Park, Rick Custer said he told his daughter she needed to get away from Camou. He said she was leaving for a job.

  • A picture of Amanda Custer who is missing out of Monrovia and a letter to her father at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau on Thursday, Aug. 08, 2019 in Monterey Park, California. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

  • Rick Custer the father of Amanda Custer asks for help from the public to help find his daughter who is a possible kidnapping victim out of Monrovia at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau on Thursday, Aug. 08, 2019 in Monterey Park, California. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

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  • Rick Custer the father of Amanda Custer after asking for help from the public to help find his daughter who is a possible kidnapping victim out of Monrovia at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau on Thursday, Aug. 08, 2019 in Monterey Park, California. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

  • A picture of the suspect, Robert Camou in the disappearance of Amanda Custer out of Monrovia at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau on Thursday, Aug. 08, 2019 in Monterey Park, California. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

  • A map with the time line of the disappearance of Amanda Custer out of Monrovia at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau on Thursday, Aug. 08, 2019 in Monterey Park, California. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

  • Rick Custer the father of Amanda Custer, right, listens as LT. Scott Hoglund speaks about his daughter, Amanda Custer, who is a possible kidnapping victim out of Monrovia at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau on Thursday, Aug. 08, 2019 in Monterey Park, California. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

  • Rick Custer the father of Amanda Custer listens as LT. Scott Hoglund (not pictured) speaks about his daughter, Amanda Custer, who is a possible kidnapping victim out of Monrovia at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau on Thursday, Aug. 08, 2019 in Monterey Park, California. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

  • LT. Scott Hoglund talks about the time line as Rick Custer, right, the father of Amanda Custer listens at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau on Thursday, Aug. 08, 2019 in Monterey Park, California. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

  • A letter from Amanda Custer to her father, Rick Custer, who is missing out of Monrovia at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau on Thursday, Aug. 08, 2019 in Monterey Park, California. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

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“She was trying to get away from him,” Rick Custer said

Authorities using dogs and a helicopter have been been searching that areas of Azusa Canyon, Mt. Baldly and Lytle Creek since Amanda Custer disappeared.

Rick Custer asked anyone who was in those areas — hiking, fishing, biking or visiting — on July 29 to call the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department if they saw something that was out of the ordinary.

“We just want Amanda home”, he said. “I’ve gone up there myself at Lytle Creek. No results. “

Detectives pieced together a timeline of the places Camou was seen after leaving his Monrovia home on July 29. But there is a five-hour gap where they cannot account for his whereabouts before he turned up in Azusa that afternoon, Hoglund said.

Detectives don’t know if Amanda Custer went by herself or was forced to be at Camou’s home on the 600 block of Vaquero Road on July 29. Hoglund said some type of altercation between Camou and Amanda Custer happened in the Monrovia man’s room around 8:15 a.m. He said a witness later saw Camou place his girlfriend in the rear hatch area of a Toyota Prius.

Blood was found in the room, according to Monrovia police Lt. Jaime Alfaro.

Camou went to the Del Taco at 1834 E. Route 66 in Glendora at 8:32 a.m. Five minutes later, he stopped at the nearby Shell station at 1860 E. Route 66.

“He just bought something to eat (at Del Taco). We do know he bought cigarettes at the gas station,” Alfaro said.

At 8:56 a.m., someone spotted the Prius in Claremont heading toward Mt. Baldy. Detectives said the car was traveling eastbound on Baseline Road. Camou was next reportedly seen at 9:27 a.m. at the Arco station at 3892 Sierra Ave. in Fontana.

Hoglund said Camou took the southbound 15 Freeway after leaving the Arco station near Lytle Creek.

It’s the next five hours that remain a mystery. Detectives don’t know where Camou went.

By 2:41 p.m., he was back in the San Gabriel Valley at a Chase bank ATM at 150 Foothill Blvd. in Azusa.

Camou later turned up at the King Eddy, a downtown bar, where he rapped about killing his b—- and burying her in the dirt, detectives said. Police found him in the Prius on July 30 in Los Angeles and took him into custody after a standoff. Amanda Custer was not in the vehicle.

He was arrested on a warrant for violating his electronic monitoring.

Camou wore an electronic monitoring device because of an earlier domestic violence case against Amanda Custer. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office had charged him for allegedly assaulting her April 22 in Pasadena, chasing her to a house where she sought help and also for an attack on an elderly man who tried to intervene.

Camou is being held without bail at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in Los Angeles. He returns to Pasadena Superior Court Sept. 4 for the Pasadena domestic violence and assault case.

Anyone with information about the whereabouts of Amanda Custer can call the Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500. Anonymous tips can be submitted to Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS or at lacrimestoppers.org.

All credit goes to Ruby Gonzales Originally published on https://www.dailynews.com

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