Suspected Studio Arsonist Feuded With Victims: Police

LOS ANGELES, CA — A 28-year-old man being held without bail for allegedly setting fire to a music studio in Studio City, killing two men and leaving a 15-year-old girl and a man in his 20s critically injured, may have had a prior dispute with at least one of the two dead men, police said Monday.

Efrem Zimbalist Demery Jr. of Los Angeles, whose prior criminal history includes burglary and selling counterfeit goods, was arrested on suspicion of murder about 7:30 p.m. Saturday in the area of 135th Street and Avalon Boulevard in the Willowbrook area when a California Highway Patrol officer stopped him for a traffic violation, Los Angeles Police Department Chief of Detectives Justin Eisenberg said.

By the time he was stopped, Demery had already been identified as a suspect in the Saturday morning fire, which Eisenberg called a "senseless and horrific crime."

According to Eisenberg, investigators believe Demery knew and had been together with the two deceased victims -- DeVaughn Cemar Carter, 28, and Michael Pollard Jr., 30, both of Los Angeles -- and a dispute erupted with one or both of them. Demery then went across the street from Top Notch Recordings at 3779 N. Cahuenga Blvd., bought gas at a Chevron station and returned to torch the interior of the building before fleeing out a rear door, Eisenberg said.

Firefighters were dispatched at 6:54 a.m. Saturday to the building and had the greater-alarm fire out within 28 minutes of their arrival, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.

A K-9 on loan to the LAFD's Arson/Counter-Terrorism Section from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives detected an accelerant, and forensic evidence, surveillance video and witness statements caused investigators to zero in on Demery, according to Capt. William Hayes of the LAPD's Robbery-Homicide Division.

Demery, who is believed to have been friends with at least one of the dead men, allegedly poured fuel in a hallway and set it ablaze, Hayes said, adding that Carter and Pollard were in one room and the two injured victims were in separate areas of the studio at the time.

Responding firefighters found all four victims down inside the building.

The injured girl and man appear to have no connection to Demery or the dead victims, police said.

Carter and Pollard were pronounced dead at the scene and the two injured victims remain hospitalized in critical condition with "significant burns," Eisenberg said.

The nature of the possible dispute between Demery and the other two men remains under investigation, Hayes said.

The building houses independent producers and studios, Shad Rabbani, the leasing agent for the building, told the Los Angeles Times. The facility has 13 studios, he said.

"They have a lot of clients and it's 24/7, so I have no idea who is coming and who is going out," Rabbani said.

Songwriter and artist L.A. Pryce said he had worked all night in one of the studios, fallen asleep and was awakened by a friend, the newspaper reported.

"My boy was like, `Yo wake up. Smell That?' So I opened the door. It's just blacked out smoke," Pryce told the paper. "And then I see flames. I broke for the door and got out. I lost everything, hard drive, computer, everything's gone."

City News Service; Photo: Shutterstock