SLAIN FED'S SECRET LIFE

New York Post ^ | NILES LATHEM

[kattracks]

December 8, 2003 -- COLUMBIA, Md. - Investigators probing slain federal prosecutor Jonathan Luna's grisly death are zeroing in on the details of his personal life - including possible sex solicitations via the 'Net, mystery trips to Pennsylvania and a credit card his wife didn't know about. Law-enforcement officials familiar with the probe into the slaying of the Bronx-born assistant U.S. attorney said yesterday they are focusing increasingly on the theory that his murder was the result of a personal relationship gone awry, rather than a random robbery or something connected to his work as a drug prosecutor in Maryland.

[Agkistrodon]

This guy is a Federal Prosecutor and he can't get some...or find a hooker? Makes no sense.
Of course as Sherlock Holmes pointed out "it is a cardinal sin to theorize ahead of the facts", and we don't really have many facts here do we?

[OldFriend]

Something ugly going on here. I doubt the disinformation being promulgated by 'sources'.

[Looking for Diogenes]

we don't really have many facts here do we?

But the facts that are public are very important. The use of a pen-knife makes a mob-hit or hiphop-related killing unlikely. The way he left his office makes it seem like he probably knew and trusted the person he left to meet. The theory of a romance or sex related killing makes more sense then the obvious work-related options.

The police should not theorize ahead of the facts. We armchair detectives can do so as much as we like.

[Free Vulcan]

Well, the FBI has strongly established that there is a boatload of questions and speculations, and not much more. Of course to the FBI, such things pass as facts, especially in press releases, news conferences, and interviews with the media.

[onyx]

Luna died after being stabbed 36 times, apparently tortured with a pen knife, authorities said.

Oh please. Unless he was found hog tied to a four poster bed, how would a disgruntled woman torture a man with a pen knife 36 times without him fighting her off?

[doosee]

how would a disgruntled woman torture a man with a pen knife 36 times without him fighting her off?

Could be the father or brother or husband of a molested or cheating female. More than likely more than one killer involved in this. It won't be long before a talking head brings race into it. Especially if he was hooking up with a white girl..

[leadpenny]

And Howlin would know the answer to that? Can't wait for her to get here. :)

[onyx]

LOL! She's kept abreast of this case. I have not. I do not know where he was found. Do you?

[kcvl]

Pennsylvania State Police also contacted their counterparts in Delaware on Saturday about the case, said Lt. Joe Aviola, a Delaware State Police spokesman. He did not have any details about what they were looking for in Delaware.

Paul Luna said he told the FBI agents about a planned trip to New York after Thanksgiving, which was the last time he saw his son.

"I reminded him about taking me to New York. He says, 'Not this week, Dad. I'm sorry, because I have a case. I have to go to Pennsylvania,' " he recalled his son saying. Paul Luna said he did not know what the case or trip was related to and that his son rarely told him details about his work.

He said investigators also asked him whether his son had any financial dealings with anyone and whether he was having financial problems.

"I don't think he was having [financial] problems because he was planning to go to the Philippines with me next month," said the father, who is from that country. "So if he has problems, why should he do that?"

Friends also said money was never a problem for Luna. Though he was a successful prosecutor and his wife is an obstetrician, they drove modest family sedans.

They bought their Elkridge, Md., townhouse for $174,900 in 2000. They talked later about buying a bigger home but decided against it because they would rather spend the extra money on family vacations, said neighbor Dana Stango.

Paul Luna said he gave investigators names of his son's friends in New York, where his son had been an assistant district attorney in Brooklyn in the late 1990s.

He also said he was asked about relationships his son may have had but said he had no knowledge of any possible extramarital affair. His son appeared to be happily married to his wife, Angela, he said.

"It looked like they were very much in love with each other," Paul Luna said. He said he saw the couple and their two young sons frequently.

Two of Jonathan Luna's friends in New York also believe his death is connected to his job, though they said he never expressed fear of the people he was prosecuting.

"Those that he was putting away were more likely than personal acquaintances, I think, to take that kind of action," said Merlin Bass, a New York tax lawyer who roomed with Luna during law school and remained close to him.

Reggie Shuford, another former University of North Carolina law school friend, said he was shocked when he heard investigators were probing Luna's personal life.

---

Investigators gathered information over the weekend on Jonathan P. Luna's private life that could help explain his death. One law enforcement source said yesterday that Luna, 38, had suffered severe beating injuries in his genital area before he was killed, suggesting a "highly personal" motive behind the crime.

Authorities also were examining messages posted by someone using the name Jonathan Luna on Internet dating sites. The author of the messages, from April 1997, described himself as a discreet 31-year-old married, professional black male seeking a white female sexual partner; but the authenticity of the postings could not be verified yesterday.


'Perfect couple'

The slain prosecutor's father, Paul D. Luna, 83, said yesterday that FBI agents had told him that they thought his son's death was not connected to his work. Among other things, agents were asking whether Luna had a girlfriend, a notion rejected by family members who said Luna and his wife, Angela, were the "perfect couple" and doted on their two young sons.

A law enforcement official told The Sun on Friday that authorities suspected Luna's death was the result of a personal relationship that turned violent and was not a random act of violence or in retaliation for his job. If Luna left Maryland willingly and was not targeted because of his job, it is unlikely that his death could be prosecuted as a federal kidnapping case or the murder of a federal official.

Officials could announce today that the case is expected to be prosecuted by the local district attorney in Pennsylvania, who was scheduled to meet with Luna's boss, Maryland U.S. Attorney Thomas M. DiBiagio.

DiBiagio vowed last week to find Luna's killer, but his office has declined to make further comment on the investigation. The Lancaster County prosecutor, Donald R. Totaro, said he would not comment until after today's meeting in Baltimore.

Luna's body was found shortly before dawn Thursday, stabbed 36 times and left face down in a creek in rural Brecknock Township, Pa. A source close to the investigation said yesterday that Luna's battered body was positioned directly in front of his still-idling Honda Accord, suggesting that his attacker might have considered running over the body before retreating.

The condition of Luna's body and the apparent zeal of killing prompted investigators to examine whether the killing was the result of a personal conflict. Two law enforcement sources said yesterday that Luna's genital area was severely wounded, with one source describing the injuries as consistent with beating and bruising.

Luna left the courthouse after 11:30 p.m. Wednesday, and his body was discovered about six hours later and about 70 miles northeast of downtown Baltimore. Law enforcement sources have indicated that officials retracing Luna's steps think that he traveled through Delaware, toward Philadelphia, and made a series of ATM withdrawals along the route.

Brecknock Township, where Luna's body was found, is about 80 miles west of Philadelphia.

Questions remained, though, about what would have drawn Luna to Pennsylvania late on a night when he had work to complete in the case and was expected to be back in the courtroom at 9:30 a.m.

[kcvl]

Federal authorities last week said the wounds on Luna's body and the prosecutor's blood-spattered car found idling near the creek appeared to indicate that Luna, 38, was involved in an intense struggle with his attacker or attackers.

But Lancaster County, Pa., coroner Barry Walp said yesterday Luna's body showed no evidence of classic "defensive wounds" on the forearms or hands. Most of the stab marks were clustered on his neck and chest.

It is thought the attack took place in the rear of Luna's car. No weapon has been recovered.

Paul Luna said he had not heard from investigators Sunday, but planned to call them today to find out how much closer they were getting to "nail down this criminal who killed my son."

"He killed my son, but he also killed me," he said.

[onyx]

Thank You

Sounds to me like he was offed by more than one person.

[kcvl]

Walp said Luna was dressed in a suit and overcoat, and had his wallet with identification and cash, but it was unclear whether he had been robbed.

Money and cell phone equipment also were found inside his car, which had blood on the driver's side door and fender and a large pool of blood on the floor, according to a police search warrant application. The affidavit said Luna also had a "traumatic wound" on the right side of his head.

[leadpenny]

No, other than all initial reports implied it had something to do with a trial going on involving Rap artists, I believe.

Jesse Jackson will probably be around soon claiming something or other.

[kcvl]

Luna's vehicle was smeared with blood on the driver's side door and front fender and was running when a well company worker discovered it early Thursday behind the company's parking lot, according to a search warrant affidavit a Pennsylvania State Police investigator filed later that day. Luna's body was found in the creek nearby.

A "large pool of blood" was on the floorboard in front of the car's passenger's seat, and money and cell phone equipment were found scattered throughout the interior, the affidavit said.

Luna, who had two children, was known as a champion of the disadvantaged, and often wrote letters to the editor on behalf of minorities and the poor.

The front of Sensenig and Weaver Well Drilling in Lancaster County, Pa., is shown Thursday evening, Dec. 4, 2003. Authorities said the body of federal prosecutor Jonathan P. Luna was discovered in a creek, behind and to the right of the building on Thursday, about 70 miles from Baltimore. Police said a car was near the body. A Pennsylvania State Police report said federal prosecutor Luna was stabbed to death. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

The body of Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan P. Luna was discovered here in this creek, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2003, in Lancaster County, Pa. Luna's body was face-down in the water. This view is from up on the bank looking down. This creek ditch is behind the parking lot of a well-drilling company, about 70 miles from Baltimore, police said. A car was near the body down the left side of the bank. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

A bottom of a creek ditch, right, where the body of slain federal prosecutor Jonathan P. Luna's body was discovered in Lancaster County, Pa., is shown Thursday evening, Dec. 4, 2003. Authorities said Luna's body was found Thursday face-down in the water. The creek is behind the parking lot of a well-drilling company, about 70 miles from Baltimore. A car was found near the body down the left side of the bank, Brecknock Township police said. The florescent green light at upper left is light from a building about 100 yards away. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

[onyx]

Yes, that's what I heard --- rap artists and drug dealers.

Leaving the money and wallet behind rather rules out robbery, doesn't it?

Torturing the guy in his genitals, makes me think his killer(s) wanted info from him before they offed him. I'm not buying the "personal life" thang.

[kcvl]

In 1991, he wrote in a letter to the editor of The New York Times that he was "offended" at the title of a recent series on the Mott Haven (search) section of the Bronx where he grew up. The series was titled "Life at the Bottom."

Luna wrote that there were people in the neighborhood like his parents who were "struggling every day to make a life for themselves and their families in Mott Haven. My dad struggled in the restaurant business, while my mom stayed at home to raise my brother and me."

Luna, 38, left the Bronx and become a highly skilled attorney, landing jobs at a Washington law firm, the Federal Trade Commission (search) and most recently as a prosecutor in New York and Baltimore.

After interning for the Bronx County District Attorney, Luna worked as an associate at Arnold & Porter in Washington in 1993-1994. He was one of only a handful of black attorneys at the firm — something that wasn't always easy for Luna, who was black.

"I can't say personally that there's been any overt racism here," Luna told the Legal Times in 1994. "However, black attorneys feel a little more isolated than their white counterparts."

He left the firm to become a staff attorney at the Federal Trade Commission from 1994 to 1997, before moving onto the district attorney's office in Brooklyn and then the federal prosecutor's office in Baltimore.

All the while, he remained an advocate for minorities.

In a 1995 letter published in The (Baltimore) Sun, Luna praised a column that had condemned the "racist logos of the Atlanta Braves and Cleveland Indians."

"The difference between Native Americans and African Americans or Jews is that (Native Americans) make up barely 1 percent of the U.S. population, and compared with the other two groups have virtually no political power," Luna wrote. "Should population or political clout determine the level of tolerance we are willing to give to racist imagery?"

[leadpenny]

Thanks. I really do feel for this fellow's family. No one deserves this.

[doosee]

Law enforcement sources have indicated that officials retracing Luna's steps think that he traveled through Delaware, toward Philadelphia, and made a series of ATM withdrawals along the route.

That is really bizarre, the ATM withdrawals multiple times. There is a good chance one or more of these is on film.

[kcvl]

In Elkridge -- where Luna lived in a two-story townhouse with his wife, Angela, his mother-in-law and his 10-month-old and 5-year-old sons -- neighbors recalled a man who was energized by his work.

"When he talked about his job, it was so inspiring," said neighbor Rebecca Fields. "He was here to help make this world a better place, to get criminals off the street."

The Lunas' house was being guarded last night by Howard County police. Neighbors collected money to buy the family food for comfort and solace.

Luna left law school during his second year to attend to family issues in New York, Osteen said. Normally, taking a year off will "throw a law student off track," Osteen said. "Jonathan came back after a year and didn't miss a beat."

Luna met Angela at UNC, where she was a medical student. She is now an obstetrician-gynecologist, neighbors and friends said.

Recently, Luna had worked on a number of drug cases, and when he disappeared yesterday, he was handling a high-profile case against a rap artist and another man accused of distributing heroin out of a music studio in Baltimore. Late last year, Luna prosecuted a naval physicist, George P. Chambers, who was accused of soliciting sex from an undercover FBI agent posing online as a teenage cheerleader. The case ended in a hung jury, and Chambers is scheduled to be retried in March.

"It was a very emotional case, a visceral case. It was very emotional, and him being a father of a young child awaiting his next child, he took it too personally and emotionally," said Bryan A. Levitt, a criminal defense lawyer in Baltimore for 17 years who represented Chambers. "But all through the prosecution, he was a gentleman. I thought he was a very nice young man, very personable and charismatic. I liked him."