CA CA - Jeffrey Tidus, 53, Rolling Hills Estates, 7 Dec 2009

oceanblueeyes · Dec 9, 2009

ROLLING HILLS ESTATES, Calif. (AP) A prominent attorney died Tuesday after he was shot in the head outside his California home.

Jeffrey Tidus was shot Monday around 8:30 p.m. as he was fetching a laptop from his car. His wife heard a single gunshot ring out and rushed outside to find him lying in the driveway behind his blue Toyota Prius, sheriff's homicide Lt. Dave Dolson said.

"There are certain factors about it that indicate it could be a targeted killing," Dolson said. "We haven't ruled anything out."

No weapon was immediately found but sheriff's deputies and volunteers peered in hedges and scoured around surrounding houses along the street looking for clues. A scent dog was brought in to assist Tuesday evening.

http://www.q13fox.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-us-attorney-killed,0,3171516.story

Kimster · Dec 9, 2009

How awful!!! It looks like he was a commercial attorney.

oceanblueeyes · Dec 9, 2009

Kimster said:
How awful!!! It looks like he was a commercial attorney.

On Fox they said he and his family had just gotten home and he went back out to get his laptop and was shot then.

Strange.

I hope they find out who killed him.

It sure seems like a target hit.

imo

oceanblueeyes · Dec 9, 2009

http://laist.com/2009/12/09/the_strange_death_of_jeffrey_tidus.php

Murder or Suicide? The Strange Death of Attorney Jeffrey Tidus

Jeffrey Tidus (Photo via Baute & Tidus)The fatal shooting of prominent attorney Jeffrey Tidus continues to raise eyebrows as detectives investigate the case's mysterious circumstances. 53-year-old Tidus was found shot to death outside his Rolling Hills Estates home at around 8:30 on Monday morning. His wife claims he'd gone outside to retrieve his laptop from his blue Toyota Prius, but he did not return. The computer was spotted "on the lawn, with blood visible on the driveway," but the L.A. County Sheriff's Department revealed this morning that they "did not find a weapon at the scene," according to LA Now.

Initial speculation pointed to suicide, since the victim "was killed just hours after top executives at a firm Tidus represented, New Century Financial, were accused of fraud by federal regulators," notes the LA Weekly's crime blog. However with no weapon found nearby, such a possibility seems unlikely, but detectives have yet to proclaim the case a homicide.

Authorities are continuing to work to determine if his work did indeed play a role in his death. Sheriff's Lt. Dave Dolson also wanted to be sure Tidus' neighbors knew that his death "appears not to have been random," in order to allay fears that a crime wave was impending in the wealthy neighborhood. Those close to Tidus personally and professionally have said they don't believe the hard-working long-distance runner would take his own life, however some also aren't sure how any of his legal work would put him in such danger.

SuziQ · Dec 9, 2009

An op-ed article about violent crime related to the mortgage fall out.

http://mortgage.freedomblogging.com/2009/12/09/violence-erupts-after-credit-collapse/22447/

(snips)
While fortunes were won during the credit boom, reports of violence are now surfacing as California continues to struggle with the credit bust and fortunes lost.

In other news, a prominent attorney who once represented failed subprime lender New Century Financial in Irvine died Tuesday after he was shot in the head outside his home. He represented other high-profile clients and so far authorities have not said if there was any connection between his shooting and his work for New Century. (On Monday, the SEC charged three former New Century execs with fraud.)

nadjatheresa · Dec 9, 2009

It is hard to imagine LE really thinks this could be suicide. There was no weapon at the scene and also why would he use the line about fetching his laptop from the car as a ruse to actually go into the driveway and shoot himself? Besides that, it appears he actually did get the laptop, which was reportedly found in the grass.

It would be nice to know his typical morning routine. Did he drive to an office daily, if so what time? Does his wife say the laptop was in the car overnight and he was retrieving it Tuesday morning, or had he put in the car earlier that morning and then decided to get it out again?

nadjatheresa · Dec 9, 2009

oceanblueeyes said:
On Fox they said he and his family had just gotten home and he went back out to get his laptop and was shot then.

Strange.

I hope they find out who killed him.

It sure seems like a target hit.

imo

Oh, I'm sorry--I just saw this. Some reports had said 8:30 in the morning, not 8:30 PM. I had not realized it was in the evening.

nadjatheresa · Dec 9, 2009

A few more details:

Tidus was found shot in the head outside his home on the 4600 block of Sugarhill Drive in Rolling Hills Estates at about 8:30 p.m. Monday. Responding paramedics first thought the 53-year-old had tripped and hit his head on the pavement. He was rushed to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, where he died at about 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Tidus and his wife had returned home from her business, Child's Play Toys, shortly before he was shot. His wife reportedly told police he had gone out to retrieve a laptop from his Toyota Prius. Moments later she found him sprawled in the driveway with a pool of blood around his head.

Link to full ABC story

oceanblueeyes · Dec 9, 2009

There sure are conflicting stories.

The ABC articles states this.

"His wife reportedly told police he had gone out to retrieve a laptop from his Toyota Prius. Moments later she found him sprawled in the driveway with a pool of blood around his head."

In the other article I linked above....it said his wife heard the gunshot and then she ran out and found him.

But why would the paramedics think he had fallen down and hurt his head if she told them that seconds before she found him she heard a gunshot?:waitasec:

imo

nadjatheresa · Dec 10, 2009

Yes, it is very confusing. One article says that neighbors came out but didn't hear or see anyone fleeing.

They have a 19 year old daughter who flew home from college Tuesday, so it was just the two of them Monday.

Also, it sounds like that night was not only a special occasion but also didn't go as planned due to a power outage, and ended early. So I don't think his arrival time would have been predictable except to a few people.

And this video reports that a neighbor saw Tidus lying in the driveway and was the one who called law enforcement:

link

oceanblueeyes · Dec 10, 2009

http://www.fresnobee.com/384/story/1743445.html

LOS ANGELES -- Investigators are calling the death of an prominent attorney who was shot outside his Los Angeles-area home a homicide.

Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Dave Dolson said Thursday detectives had ruled out suicide in the death of Jeffrey Tidus, who was found in his driveway with a gunshot wound to the head.

No weapon was recovered at the scene and no neighbors from Tidus' exclusive Rolling Hills Estates neighborhood witnessed the shooting, leaving investigators unable to immediately determine how Tidus died.

Dolson says detectives have spoken to several people who suggested theories about embittered individuals harboring a grudge against Tidus, who successfully litigated many cases for a string of high-profile corporate clients.

nadjatheresa · Dec 10, 2009

I wonder if it is true that the neighbor saw Tidus and called 911, and not Mrs. Tidus.

oceanblueeyes · Dec 12, 2009

http://www.examiner.com/x-/x-14600-...earful-after-shooting-death-of-their-attorney

Research the name Jeffrey Tidus and pages upon pages of press come up. The lawyer who was shot to death Monday night at his Rolling Hills estate seemed to put fear aside when taking on a case. He represented Gregory and Joyce Adams in a lawsuit that exposed the shady practices of a high-powered Democratic political supporter, Norman Hsu. The suit did not name Hsu, but defined the ponzi scheme that the FBI investigated him for, according to an article by the L.A. Times.

Jeffrey Tidus won a 2.4 million dollar jury verdict in a case against an attorney, Christopher Gruys and Richard Wall in 2007. The judgment against Gruys was reversed and the matter remanded to the trial court for a new trial in 2009 according to the Court of Appeals Website.

Someone with inside knowledge of the trial contacted this reporter with an anonymous tip. Ther are allegations that Christopher Gruys threatened to kill Tidus. "If he isn't a main suspect then he needs to be," The tipster said. He said everyone involved is scared.

nadjatheresa · Dec 12, 2009

Another thing is Tidus had several dogs. I don't know if they lived in the house. No reports of dogs barking.

When I go out to get something my dog is super alert to see what I'm doing and if a stranger came into the yard he'd really bark.

It could be meaningful if Tidus' dogs were quiet.

Monaco · Dec 12, 2009

nadjatheresa said:
Yes, it is very confusing. One article says that neighbors came out but didn't hear or see anyone fleeing.

They have a 19 year old daughter who flew home from college Tuesday, so it was just the two of them Monday.

Also, it sounds like that night was not only a special occasion but also didn't go as planned due to a power outage, and ended early. So I don't think his arrival time would have been predictable except to a few people.

And this video reports that a neighbor saw Tidus lying in the driveway and was the one who called law enforcement:

link

Yes. Very confusing. Apparently the wife is not the one who called 911? It was a neighbor, but according to that link, the neighbor who made the call didn't hear a gunshot, but saw Tidus lying in his driveway with blood around his head.

Monaco · Dec 12, 2009

nadjatheresa said:
Another thing is Tidus had several dogs. I don't know if they lived in the house. No reports of dogs barking.

When I go out to get something my dog is super alert to see what I'm doing and if a stranger came into the yard he'd really bark.

It could be meaningful if Tidus' dogs were quiet.

That's another good point. I wonder about the time line. Was it the neighbor who informed the wife about her husband lying in the driveway? Because if she had already discovered him for herself, one would think she would have been the one to make the 911 call. :waitasec:

oceanblueeyes · Dec 12, 2009

Monaco said:
Yes. Very confusing. Apparently the wife is not the one who called 911? It was a neighbor, but according to that link, the neighbor who made the call didn't hear a gunshot, but saw Tidus lying in his driveway with blood around his head.

The blood already pooling around his head bothers me too for some reason.

How long was he laying out there bleeding out?

Strange case.

IMO

OkieGranny · Oct 24, 2015

From December 2012:

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/dec/29/local/la-me-tidus-slaying-20121229

"It was an execution," said Det. Bob Kenney, a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy working on the case...

Detectives have pored over Tidus' computers for clues, and looked at his legal cases. Sheryl Tidus is quick to point out that her husband was a civil litigator, not a criminal or family law attorney involved in cases where emotions are pushed to the limit...

Kenney said there are "people of interest" in the case. One, the detective said, is former Los Angeles tax attorney Christopher Gruys, from whom a Tidus client won an $11.2-million judgment in 2007. Gruys' name surfaced in connection with the case shortly after Tidus' death.

From February 2015:

http://www.dailybreeze.com/general-...-rolling-hills-estates-attorney-jeffrey-tidus

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors renewed a $10,000 reward Tuesday for information leading to the person who fatally shot a 53-year-old attorney in the driveway of his Rolling Hills Estates home...

The attorney’s family, friends and clients separately raised $90,000 in reward money, but no one has been arrested in connection with the shooting.

JusticeWillBeServed · Apr 27, 2017

New leads prompt $100K reward in lawyers 2009 execution-style slaying in Rolling Hills Estates

http://www.dailybreeze.com/general-news/20170426/new-leads-prompt-100k-reward-in-lawyers-2009-execution-style-slaying-in-rolling-hills-estates

New leads in the mysterious 2009 murder of an attorney in quiet Rolling Hills Estates prompted Los Angeles County sheriffs investigators to renew their plea for tips Wednesday and announce a $100,000 reward for information leading to the killer.

The family of Jeffrey Tidus, a 53-year-old corporate attorney ambushed and fatally shot in his driveway on the evening of Dec. 7, 2009, is pledging $90,000 to an existing county reward, officials told reporters at a news conference at the sheriffs Homicide Bureau in Monterey Park.

Lt. Victor Lewandowski said detectives are now focusing their investigation on Tidus professional life.

We feel his murder is related to one of the numerous civil actions and civil lawsuits hes been involved with throughout the years, Lewandowski said, adding that Tidus often dealt with breaches of contract cases.

Several new sources came forward with information within the past few months, rekindling the investigation, he said.

0101ABA · Jun 3, 2017

Person of interest sketch released in 2009 Rolling Hills Estates cold case murder

Investigators have released a sketch of a person of interest wanted for questioning in the execution-style murder of a prominent attorney in Rolling Hills Estates in 2009.

CA CA - Jeffrey Tidus, 53, Rolling Hills Estates, 7 Dec 2009

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