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'Star Trek' Actor's Estranged Wife Arrested In Connection With Woodland Hills Hotel Murder
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The estranged wife of a Star Trek actor has been accused of being an accessory to the murder of a man in a Woodland Hills hotel room.
Linda Pawlik, 60, was arrested yesterday on suspicion of being an accessory to the murder of 40-year-old Edward Mello, CBS LA reports. Mello was found shot to death in his room at a hotel in the 20200 block of Ventura Blvd. in Woodland Hills on October 29, 2014.
In November, police arrested Jorge Rodriguez, 34, on suspicion of murder. Police have not announced how Pawlik was allegedly involved in the murder, but according court documents associated with her divorce from actor Robert Picardo, the gun used to kill him may have been hers.
Robert Picardo, 61, played Dr. Dick Richards on China Beach as well as The Doctor on Star Trek: Voyager. He and Pawlik married in 1984 until the actor filed for divorce in 2012. Their relationship has contained a series of bizarre, dramatic twists. In August of 2014, Pawlik apparently spread rumors that Picardo was having a sexual relationship with science guy Bill Nye, TMZ reports. Picardo has repeatedly denied this, though he acknowledges that he and Nye are long-time friends.
Picardo asked a judge to order Pawlik to move out of the guest house on his property where she was living in November, saying she was being investigated for Mello's death and that she hung out with drug addicts and criminals. Pawlik was ordered to move out of the guest house by December 7. Picardo and Pawlik have two daughters together.
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