Arrest Made in Calif. Socialite's Murder
A parolee was arrested today on suspicion of murdering a 46-year-old San Francisco socialite and philanthropist after he posed as a utility worker in order to gain access to her apartment, police said.
Gary Scott Holland, 43, is accused of robbing and killing Kathleen Horan, Lt. Lyn Tomioka told ABC News affiliate KGO-TV.
The police, who learned Holland was on parole for attempted murder in Fresno and a person of interest to San Francisco, were able to find him in the city's Richmond district earlier today after they released a sketch this morning.
Horan was found dead Saturday, Oct. 30, inside her second-floor apartment in the Russian Hill section of San Francisco when police responded to a request for a well-being check by an unidentified person who knew her, the police said.
"Investigators believe a stranger walked up to the door of the victim's premises and knocked on the door and the victim answered the door," SFPD Public Affairs Officer Albie Sparza said.
The suspect had posed as a utility worker and knocked on several doors saying he was checking for a gas leak, SFPD Capt. David Lazar said.
"And unfortunately it sounds like my niece opened the door," said John Horan, Kathleen Horan's uncle.
Kathleen Horan was a socialite and a philanthropist, who according to her friend Patti Mangan, was on the boards of several charity groups.
The day before her murder she had just returned from a trip to Argentina with her mother Sharon, who along with her husband Bill, spoke exclusively with ABC News San Francisco station KGO-TV. "They just returned from the trip, and her mother said goodbye to her, not knowing that it was a final goodbye," her father Bill Horan said.
"I had her for 11, 13 days, 24/7. And it was a beautiful gift, considering," Sharon Horan told KGO.
Police have not revealed just how Horan was murdered, and have not explained what they believe Holland's motive was in the murder or whether it was a robbery-homicide.
"We are exploring all the possible motives," Lazar said to KGO.
"She was awake, she was trying to figure out how to touch someone, how to help someone, how to give," Bill Horan said.
"[The arrest] is not going to bring complete closure, as far as the family is concerned, but it's sure going to help," John Horan said today.
