"CLOSURE FOR DEPUTY'S FAMILY"

The family of slain sheriff's Sgt. George Arthur was stunned this week when it learned that the former Long Beach man, killed in 1985, had been shot to death by a fellow deputy.

The discovery of the killer's identity--and death--brought closure to an event that had haunted them for 14 years.

"We were all kind of surprised. With all the dangerous work he had done over the years, the assumption was that the bad guys had got him," said Rob Arthur, the sergeant's brother. "It was shocking to find it was someone within the department."

Arthur, 37, was shot to death in his van on June 1, 1985, while driving on a downtown Los Angeles freeway shortly after finishing up a shift at the Men's Central jail.

Police originally thought that Arthur, who grew up in Long Beach, died after his vehicle hit a retaining wall on Mission Road. But a coroner's investigation found that the deputy had been killed by a gunshot.

The killing was considered a murder mystery until recent DNA testing linked retired sheriff's deputy Ted Eugene Kirby to the crime. Kirby retired to Spokane, Wash., in 1993.

Kirby, 54, who gave detectives a saliva sample several weeks ago, removed his wedding ring on June 30, put it on a table and disappeared. His body was found last week near his home in Spokane, and it appears as though he committed suicide, Los Angeles Police Department officials said.

While famimly members are upset about having to relive the anguish of losing the youngest of six children 14 years ago, they said it is comforting to finally know what happened.

Unhappy Memories

"This is hard because it brought it all back, and we are very sad," saide Louise Arthur, the deputy's sister. "But I feel a sense of relief, and I feel George is resting more comfortably knowing we found who did this."

Sheriff's deputies who knew George Arthur were very upset and said they did not want to talk about the murder or the victim.

George is still remembered as a fun-loving man whose humor and good nature breathed life into reunions of the tight-knit family, said Louise Arthur, who still lives in the family's Bixby Knolls home.

George, who graduated from St. Anthony High School and Cal State Long Beach, regularly spoke to his siblings on the phone and joined the men in the family annually at the beginning of trout fishing season in the Eastern Sierras, said Rob, who lives in Sacramento.

George was survived by his second wife of more than three years, Linda, and two children from a previous marriage, Jeffrey and Christine. He also has two sisters and three brothers.

His parents will never know what transpired the night their youngest son was killed. His father, William, died three years ago, and his mother, Anita, has Alzheimer's disease and does not speak anymore, Louise said.

I think the Lord works in strange and wonderful ways," Louise said. "He spared them further anxiety of having to go through this again."

Children Sought

George's older brother, Bill, is trying to find the deputy's first wife, Sally, and their two children, Jeffrey and Christine, in an effort to let them know about the developments in the case. The family moved to Pennsylvania when the children were very young, and the family lost touch with them, Bill said.

Family members said they had heard of a possible love triangle at the time of the murder, but they had no details and could only speculate about what happened.

Sheriff's officials confirm that George's wife at the time of his death, now remarried as Linda Arthur-Parra, is a sheriff's seargeant at the Pico Rivera station. She could not be reached for comment.

At first, Bill said, the family was hopeful that detectives would solve the crime.

After a couple of years we thought it would just get chalked up as an unsolved crime," Bill said. "It has been such a long time, it is hard again to see his face everywhere. It brings it all back and renews a lot of feelings."

Detectives didn't even suspect Kirby until recent DNA evidence linked him to the crime scene, said Los Angeles Deputy Chief Martin Pomeroy. Police officials began suspecting Kirby after they got word of a romantic entanglement that linked the two men, both married.

Police would not comment on the love triangle theory.

LAPD officer Jason Lee said once the coroner's report comes back, the case will be considered solved and closed.

"Some things will never be answered because he is not talking to us. But basically the DNA evidence pointed to him as the suspect." Lee said of Kirby. "He was our ultimate suspect, and now he is dead."

--Press Telegram, 7/17/1999