$50K Reward Offered For Unsolved Murder of Pali High Student

The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to reinstate a $50,000 reward regarding a nearly 32-year-old cold case.

student and Brentwood resident Kari Lenander was murdered in July of 1980 after she failed to return from a night out with friends.

Detective Tim Marcia from the Los Angeles Police Department has been working on Lenander's case for 11 years. At a press conference Tuesday, he announced new information had been revealed from DNA testing. He said Lenander's murder is forensically linked to an unsolved 1995 case in Inglewood.

"There is an individual that we know at this time responsible for two heinous murders. But we need a name," said Marcia. "And once we get that name, we feel we have the physical evidence to back up a successful prosecution."

LA City Councilman Bill Rosendahl asked Marcia how the reward would help the case. Marcia replied that when the LAPD doesn't have relationships with key people who may have the information, the money might move the case in the right direction.

"They may not do it for the moral reason … But when there's the reward aspect of it, they'll come forward," said Marcia.

Marica told Los Angeles Times Magazine the details of Lenander's case about one year ago in an interview. He said Lenander and her friends went dancing in Hollywood that July night in 1980. Marcia told LA Times Magazine that Lenander and the girls hitched a ride with a man named Ken. When the night was drawing to a close, Lenander wanted to stay out and left with Ken, according to the LA Times Magazine report. Lenander was found dead in a gutter in South Central Los Angeles the next morning, said the report. She was just 15.

If you have information that may help the case, you are asked to call 213-486-6810 from 8 a.m.-5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. After business hours, or on weekends, you may call 877-LAPD-24-7, or 877-527-3247.

• For video from Tuesday's press conference regarding the reward, click here.
• For the full story from LA Times Magazine, click here.