Man Found Guilty in 1994 Murders of Two Kidnapped from a Torrance Business

A 46-year-old man was convicted today of murder and kidnapping for the killings of two men who were abducted from a business in Torrance, strangled at a nearby motel and dumped in San Diego County nearly two decades ago.

The Los Angeles Superior Court jury deliberated about four hours before finding Howard Bruce Bloomgarden guilty of two counts of first-degree murder for the Oct. 26, 1994, strangulations of Peter Kovach, 26, and Ted Gould, 29, along with two counts of kidnapping for extortion.

Jurors also found true the special circumstance allegation of murder during the course of a kidnapping.

The panel was ordered to return to court Tuesday for the penalty phase of the trial. The jurors will be asked to recommend either a death sentence or a no-parole life prison term.

Authorities believe Kovach was targeted after falling out with Bloomgarden over a drug operation.

Gould, who worked with Kovach at the Galleria Telecom store, was abducted along with Kovach. Deputy District Attorney Geoff Lewin told jurors that Gould was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and unsuccessfully pleaded for his release.

Kovach and Gould were taken to a motel in Lawndale where they were strangled by Kenneth Friedman, who was sentenced to death in December 2005. The victims' bodies were dumped in San Diego County.

In his closing argument, the prosecutor painted Bloomgarden as the mastermind behind the plan, calling the evidence against him "absolutely overwhelming."

Defense attorney Jack Earley countered that the prosecution had started with a presumption of guilt, rather than a presumption of innocence.

"When you get the whole story, then it looks completely different," Bloomgarden's attorney said.

Friedman died in August 2012 on San Quentin's Death Row of an apparent suicide. Several other defendants were convicted in the case and sentenced to lesser prison terms.

--City News Service