Camaro Generations

[SpeedRacer49]

Now this may not be good news. But if many of you may remember that we were asked to help in a case that involved a Camaro. I volunteered to help. And many of you know I have been helping still for about a year now and just recently I was asked to testify. Well my gal found out that there was a story posted or writen about it. I didnt even know!!



here is the link:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4176/is_20090721/ai_n32174458/?tag=content;col1




OAKLAND -- It's a case built on reams of circumstantial evidence and a sour, pulpy tale of cheating, gambling, losing and motive for double-murder.

But with no weapon and no one who saw professional poker player Ernest Scherer III near the scene of his parents' brutal beating and stabbing deaths last year, the Alameda County prosecutor's pivotal witness might be a young Central Valley car buff with an eye for Chevy Camaros.

Casey McCarthy of the Sacramento Camaro Generation Club testified Tuesday that last year, at the behest of sheriff's detectives, he identified a car from night surveillance video as a victory red Camaro convertible -- a fourth-generation model made from 1998 to 2002 -- with non-factory wheels and lamps.

Later, taken to a sheriff's impound yard, McCarthy said he viewed the same type of car: a 2001 red Camaro detectives took from Scherer III, who stands charged in his parents' killings and could face the death penalty.

"Clearly they were aftermarket rims," recalled McCarthy, who works at a dealership and wore a polo shirt with a Chevy emblem on the breast. "To me it seemed like a cheap, commonplace rim that you could get anywhere."

Authorities say the footage of a car entering and leaving Castlewood Country Club near Pleasanton was recorded the night detectives say Ernest Scherer Jr. and Charlene Abendroth were killed in their home there after a steak dinner at the clubhouse.

McCarthy described the nuances of fourth-generation Camaros, and how he could identify one in the dark, mildly blurry photos, on the fourth day of a preliminary hearing to determine if there is enough evidence for Scherer III to stand trial.

Scherer III, 31, stared up at the freeze-frame photos, which appeared on a large wall TV a few feet to his right.

He has pleaded not guilty and remains without bail at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin.

Authorities say he was deeply in debt -- including a short-term, $616,000 mortgage loan owed to his father -- and drove from Las Vegas to his parents' home on March 7, 2008, stabbed and beat them to death and then drove south to Brea where he lived with his wife and child.

Also appearing on the stand Tuesday was an Alameda County sheriff's deputy with a copy of a receipt from a Brea tire store. Deputy Rafael Alvarez said the record indicated that Scherer III bought four new tires there March 9, 2008.

Last week, an assistant at a Brea carwash testified that, also on March 9, Scherer III ordered a hand wax and a detailing, then walked all the way through the wash tunnel with his car, despite a reprimand. The attendant, Mariano Delgado, said he had never seen anyone do that.

Scherer Jr., 60, a real-estate investor who served a stormy tenure on the San Ramon Valley school board, suffered a fractured skull and multiple stab and blunt-force injuries around his head and neck. Abendroth, 57, a longtime accounting lecturer at Cal State East Bay, suffered similar fatal injuries, according to a forensic pathologist who conducted the autopsies.

Probate records show their combined estates valued at more than $2.6 million. Their wills designated a split between Scherer III and his sister when they turned 30.

Scherer, who was arrested in Las Vegas in February, more than 11 months after the killings, turned 30 last summer.

The hearing was continued to Aug. 18.

Reach John Simerman at 925-943-8072.