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Oct 5, 2006 9:56 pm US/Pacific
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Oak. Torture Chamber Suspect Charged With Murder
OAKLAND (CBS 5 / AP) ―
A 41-year-old Oakland man suspected of running a torture chamber in his home was formally charged Thursday with murder in the brutal beating death of a woman.
Earl Stefanson remained jailed awaiting court arraignment on Friday.
Police said Stefanson killed Leslie Lamb on Aug. 26 and then dropped her body off at a hospital, telling hospital workers he had found the woman unconscious in a vehicle near his home.
But police said the woman had never been in the vehicle.
Authorities got a search warrant for Stefanson's house at 3458 Coolidge Avenue and said they found Lamb's blood inside. Authorities said they also found blood from two other, unidentified, women and a basement torture chamber.
Oakland homicide Detective Tony Jones said Stefanson's basement looked like "a 'Silence of the Lambs' type of setting down there." He said that the room was "very dark and frightening" even for the experienced police officers working the case.
"There was four police officers, and we were all kind of sticking close to each other," Jones said. "It was very frightening, even for us."
Stefanson was arrested Tuesday night after a car chase from Hayward to Castro Valley in the East Bay.
(© 2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)