Sponsored message
Logged in as
Audience-funded nonprofit news
radio tower icon laist logo
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Subscribe
  • Listen Now Playing Listen
  • Listen Now Playing Listen

This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.

This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.

News

Body of Missing Woman May Be Buried Beneath Restaurant

shovel-pause-dirt.jpg
Photo by MizGingerSnaps via Flickr

One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.

Excavation began yesterday in Lomita at the Thyme Contemporary Cafe, which is owned by David Viens, as authorities look for the body of Viens' wife Dawn, missing for 16 months. Officials say they expect the dig to take some time, according to LA Now, and they believe she is buried beneath the property.When David Viens hurled himself off a cliff side in Rancho Palos Verdes last week, he was fleeing from the authorities, who finally went public after months of investigating with word he was considered a prime suspect in his wife's murder. However, without a body, the murder charge is hard to make stick, and though David Viens was arrested at the hospital after he survived the jump, Los Angeles County Sheriff's detectives are intent on locating the remains.

When Dawn Viens disappeared in October 2009, David Viens did not go immediately to the authorities. After eventually reporting her missing, Viens "remodeled the cafe, adding new floors and walls that investigators now believe may be concealing his wife’s body."

One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.

You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.

If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief

Make your tax-deductible donation today