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Oct 6, 2006 9:30 pm US/Pacific
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Plea Delayed In Oakland Torture, Murder Case
Neighbors Say Screams Heard From Alleged Torture House
OAKLAND (CBS 5 / BCN) ―
A man suspected of killing a San Leandro woman after torturing her in the basement of his Oakland home made his first court appearance Friday morning but his arraignment isn't expected to take place until next week.
Earl William Scott Stefanson Jr., 41, was scheduled to enter a plea today in Alameda County Superior Court on charges that he murdered 36-year-old Leslie Lamb.
The case, however, was referred to the public defender's office and the arraignment is scheduled to continue Tuesday afternoon before Judge Trina Stanley in Department 112.
"Earl" Stefanson is being held on no-bail status in Alameda County jail.
According to Oakland police, Stefanson drove Lamb to Highland Hospital the night of Aug. 26.
She had been severely beaten and was pronounced dead shortly afterward.
Stefanson told police that he found her in a car, but investigators quickly determined that wasn't the case and a search warrant was issued for Stefanson's home in the 3400 block of Coolidge Avenue, according to police Sgt. Tony Jones.
Jones said Wednesday that police entered the home to find a "very dark" and "frightening" room that contained samples of Lamb's blood and the blood of two others.
He wouldn't elaborate on the room except to say, "It was a 'Silence of the Lambs' type of setting down there."
Police arrested Stefanson Tuesday night after a chase through Oakland and Hayward.
Investigators are still trying to determine the origin of the other two blood samples.
Police are also investigating other unsolved murders to see if any evidence shows signs of torture similar to what Lamb suffered.
At least two neighbors told CBS 5 that they had heard screams from the house in the past.
"A lot of screaming, female screaming," said one neighbor who did not want to be identified.
Former neighbor Sallina Boynton said she just recently recalled hearing a horrifying scream come from the home in 2002.
"There was a woman screaming, saying, 'Please, help me. Help me. He's going to kill me,' " Boynton said.
(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Bay City News contributed to this report.)