Los Angeles DA Charges Woman in Connection With Santa Monica Double Fatal
Prosecutors
Allege Marshonda Whitaker Helped Alex Kristopher
Kirksey Flee California
Los Angeles County prosecutors have charged a 42-year-old woman with helping the suspected driver in a deadly Santa Monica hit-and-run evade arrest, escalating the case that left two pedestrians dead and two others seriously injured.
Marshonda Lajune Whitaker faces one felony count of accessory after the fact, accused of aiding Alex Kristopher Kirksey, 38, after the Oct. 24 collision on Wilshire Boulevard. Investigators say Whitaker knew Kirksey had allegedly committed gross vehicular manslaughter and felony
hit-and-run and assisted him as he left California in the days following the crash.
Kirksey was located in Chicago, taken into custody, and extradited to Los Angeles County, where he has pleaded not guilty to charges that include vehicular manslaughter, felony hit-and-run causing injury, and reckless driving.
Whitaker was arrested in Santa Monica
on Nov. 6. She pleaded not guilty at arraignment; bail was set at $25,000. If convicted, she faces up to three years in state prison.
A preliminary hearing setting for both defendants is scheduled for Dec. 3 in Department 31 of the Airport Courthouse.
Deputy District Attorney Katherine Burgermyer of the Airport Branch Office
Malibu Crash Case Moves Forward as Judge Refuses to Dismiss Murder Charges Against Fraser Bohm
Court Rejected Defense Arguments
That the 2023 Pacific Coast Highway
Collision
Was a Tragic Accident
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Thomas Rubinson on Monday denied a bid to throw out murder charges against Fraser Michael Bohm, keeping intact the case stemming from a 2023 crash on Pacific Coast Highway that left four Pepperdine University seniors dead.
Defense attorneys had urged the court to find insufficient evidence to support the murder counts, seeking to undo an April ruling by another judge that sent the case toward trial. Judge Rubinson rejected the motion, leaving all charges in place.
Bohm, 22 at the time of the collision and now 24, faces four counts of murder and four counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence in the Oct. 17, 2023 crash near a stretch of PCH known as “Dead
is prosecuting. The Santa Monica Police Department continues to investigate.
Anyone with information is asked to contact SMPD Investigator Lantz Lewis at (310) 458-2201 ext. 5311, or the Watch Commander at (310) 458-8427. Anonymous tips may be submitted through LA Regional Crime Stoppers at (800) 2228477 or lacrimestoppers.org.
Man’s Curve.” Prosecutors say he lost control in a 45 mph zone, struck parked cars on the shoulder and fatally hit Niamh Rolston, 20; Peyton Stewart, 21; Asha Weir, 21; and Deslyn Williams, 21.
The defense, led by Alan Jackson, Kelly Quinn and Jacqueline Sparagna, characterizes the incident as a tragic accident, arguing Bohm was fleeing an aggressive driver. Prosecutors dispute the road-rage narrative.
Judge Rubinson granted a separate defense request to extract GPS and other data from the phone of Victor Calandra,
a motorist prosecutors intend to call as a key witness regarding Bohm’s driving. Calandra, through counsel, has said he tried to warn Bohm at a stoplight before the crash; the defense portrays him as the aggressive driver Bohm was attempting to avoid.
Calandra’s attorney Robert Helfend, said, "He rolled his window down said you are going to kill somebody, slow down."
He explained his client’s anger when he stopped at the site of the crash and stated,
"The defendant, all he could say was I gotta call my mom, OMG I ruined my life.
Not once did he say how are the victims? So that’s why he got mad at the guy." as quoted by Fox 11 News.
Bohm was arrested shortly after the collision, released, then rearrested when charges were filed eight days later. He remains free on bail.
The case is scheduled to return to court in January, when the judge is expected to set a trial date. Pepperdine later awarded posthumous degrees to the four victims, all members of the Alpha Phi sorority and part of the Class of 2024.
Getty Villa to Premiere “Thieves of California,” a Dystopian Reimagining of a Greek Tragedy
The Getty’s Theater Lab Presents Thieves of California, a Futuristic Retelling of Aeschylus’s
Seven Against Thebes
The Getty Villa Theater Lab will premiere Thieves of California, a new play inspired by Aeschylus’s Seven Against Thebes and set in a near-future dystopian California, for one weekend only, Nov. 15–16.
The work-in-progress production, written by Los Angeles-based playwright Boni B. Alvarez and directed by Jon Lawrence Rivera, will be performed on Saturday, Nov. 15, at 3:00 p.m. and 7 p.m., and on Sunday, Nov. 16, at 3:00 p.m. Admission is free with advance reservations available online. The project is co-produced by Playwrights’ Arena, which has a long history of collaboration with the Getty Villa on contemporary adaptations of classical works.
The year is 2031. California has seceded from the union, but the combatants are coming to take back the Golden State. In this modern-day adaptation of Aeschylus’s Seven Against Thebes, a playwright struggles with the challenges of creating theater in a world that’s falling apart. How do you speak truth to power when the truth might destroy you?
The ensemble cast features Kimberly Alexander, June Carryl, Reggie Lee, Hazel Lozano, Ryan Nebreja, Myra Cris Ocenar, Vico Ortiz, John Ruby, and Rachel Sorsa. Alana Dietze serves as dramaturg. The production’s creative team includes Alex Calle (scenic design), Lily Bartenstein (lighting and props), Mylette Nora (costumes), and Cricket Myers (sound design), with Elmira Rahim as production assistant and Letitia Chang as stage manager.
Rivera previously directed Oedipus El Rey at the Villa Theater Lab in 2008 and Helen in the Getty’s Outdoor Classical Theater in 2012, both of which explored new ways to reinterpret ancient Greek stories for modern audiences.
“Playwrights' Arena has been fortunate to collaborate with several theaters in Los Angeles to bring our playwrights' unique voices to new audiences,” says Rivera. “The Getty Villa Theatre Lab has been one
of our staunch collaborators in this effort. Our past collaborations have included Oedipus El Rey by Luis Alfaro and Helen by Nick Salamone. It is exciting to work on the adaptation of Seven Against Thebes by Boni B. Alvarez at the Lab this time. Not only will it give the playwright resources and time to shape the play, but to have audiences old and new to experience it.”
The Getty Villa Theater Lab, a
cornerstone of the Getty’s performing arts program, serves as an incubator for innovative reimaginings of classical theater. Its mission is to connect ancient texts with contemporary issues by commissioning and supporting playwrights and theater companies who bring fresh voices and perspectives to the stage.
For more information, visit getty.edu.
Naked Suspect Arrested After Crashing Stolen Portable Toilet Truck on PCH in
Malibu
Police Say the Man Stole a TrucklHauling
Portable Restrooms in Santa Monica Before Fleeing
Authorities arrested a man Sunday afternoon after he allegedly carjacked a truck loaded with portable toilets in Santa Monica and later crashed it along Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, as reported by CBS LA News.
Police said the incident began around 2:50 p.m. near Third Street and Arizona Avenue, close to the Third Street Promenade, when the suspect took a Ford F-550 commercial truck towing a trailer of portable restrooms.
The suspect reportedly claimed to have a weapon during the carjacking before speeding away northbound on PCH.
A short time later, the California Highway Patrol and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department responded to reports of a hit-and-run crash near Big Rock Drive involving the stolen truck. Officers found the vehicle but not the suspect, who had fled the scene on foot.
By 4:20 p.m., the man was located near the Big Rock Beach shoreline and taken into custody without incident, authorities said. He was found naked in the ocean by authorities and escorted wearing a towel from Big Rock Beach. No firearm was recovered during the arrest.
Investigators said one of the portable toilets detached from the trailer and fell onto the roadway near PCH and Sunset Boulevard during the pursuit.
No injuries were reported in the crash.
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SANTA MONICA SELL OUT
By CHARLES ANDREWS
NOT SELL OFF, SELL OUT
Well, isn’t that handy. This is the third time I have been able to use that headline. I pray there is not a fourth. But… We would have to be rid of the four City Council members who don't seem to want our famous venue brought back to performing life, who notoriously voted one month ago to end negotiations with a group with five star credentials and decades of experience in the concert promotion business, because, the Council members explained afterwards, “the numbers didn’t add up.” But that’s silly talk. The RPG Group promised it would not cost the city or its residents a penny, and they would write that promise into the contract. After the years of it sitting empry (although our school district did magnanimously offer to take it off our hands, to turn it into the gym they needed and beglected to build, with our $1.6B in school bonds), new state rules on earthquake retrofitting being prohibitivly costly (but the solidly built Civic has nicely survived earthquakes with no damage) and the $59M in state funds that we had been counting suddenly disappearing, it looked hopeless.
So when a group of top professionals came in and studied the project and said, we are willing to put our time and money into this because it is our experienced opinion that we can make money, and money for the city as well, it seemed like a miracle. A miracle those four Council members turned their backs on, for no good reasons. THERE REMAINS NO PROSPECT
For a better, or even sane, offer by a reputable group. Not even close. When something just doesn’t make sense, I always look for the hidden agenda. The truth that someone doesn’t want spoken. Without making any accusations or trying to read minds or hearts, let’s look at it this way. That land is worth tens of millions more, to developers, without that pesky old building on it. You know, demolished, tossed on the trash heap. Like the historic East Wing of our White House. That was obscene, and no one voted for that. No one in Santa Monica voted to trade a functioning, income-generating Civic for developers’ cash when there was a solid plan to revitalize. What do you think Parisians could get for the land they could develop if that pesky tower wasn’t there? Rome’s Colosseum takes up a lot of prime real estate.
I’m not, of course, equating our Civic with such world-famous edifices, but it is more important than a lot of people realize. Musicians know. The late Brian Wilson, the genius behind The Beach Boys, whose vision and songs created the California ethos of sun, surfing, bikinis, and hot rods, was eagerly bought into by the whole planet, and the rest is history. Wilson was the first musician to give his enthusiastic endorsement, to using his name as a supporter of Saving the Civic, before the RPG Group came forward, and
Continue on page 7
At the Crossroads: Preserving Santa Monica’s Soul
SM a.r.t.
Long before Santa Monica became a global destination, it was a humble seaside town defined by salt air, sunshine, and a sense of belonging. Families gathered on the sand, cyclists rolled down Ocean Avenue, and neighbors met at cafés to watch the fog lift off the Pacific. The city’s rhythm was guided not by cranes or traffic lights but by the tide itself — steady, patient, and restorative.
That small-town spirit was woven into Santa Monica’s earliest vision. When the pier opened in 1909 and the bluffs of Palisades Park were landscaped soon after, the founders promised something simple yet profound: that life here would always feel close to the ocean, open, lightfilled, and human-scaled. For decades, that promise held true, giving the city its rare blend of beach charm and civic soul.
The Shift Toward Density
Today, a competing vision dominates. Where modest beach cottages once stood, luxury towers rise. Where locals once found surf shops and independent cafés, national chains now occupy much of downtown. City leaders say Santa Monica must build to survive, to meet housing mandates and remain relevant.
But unchecked growth risks eroding the very qualities that made the city desirable in the first place. Tourism, once the city’s lifeblood, has yet to fully recover since COVID. Visitors still come for the beach, the pier, and the promenade, but fewer linger. What drew them here was never density or spectacle; it was the feeling of openness, community, and the promise of restoration at the edge of the sea.
The Promenade as a Mirror
Nowhere is this tension clearer than on Third Street Promenade. Once a national model for pedestrian retail, it remains one of Southern California’s most recognizable public spaces. It is still clean, well-lit, and generally safe, with a steady hum of visitors, families, and live music. Yet the Promenade’s challenges lie in its empty storefronts — many owned by landlords unwilling to reduce rents or subdivide oversized spaces built for now-vanished
big-box tenants.
The result is a street that feels caught between past and future. Tacky souvenir shops fill prime corners while imaginative local uses struggle to gain a foothold. The conversation about “revitalization” has lately drifted toward a proposed “entertainment zone” with massive digital billboards and flashing lights, a misguided attempt to mimic Times Square rather than celebrate the natural light and authenticity that define Santa Monica.
Contrast this with Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice, where smallscale buildings, shade trees, and locally owned stores create an experience that feels intimate, creative, and alive. Santa Monica’s Promenade could do the same by leaning into what makes it special: walkability, coastal climate, and civic life unfolding in real time.
The Promenade as a Public Space for All
Despite its vacancies, the Promenade continues to serve as Santa Monica’s most important civic gathering place, a space that unites residents and visitors across generations and cultures. It remains a carfree public square, an outdoor stage for art, culture, and shared experience.
Recent community events, from outdoor screenings like the World Series viewing to cultural celebrations and pop-up markets, have drawn crowds and rekindled the sense of togetherness that defines Santa Monica at its best. These moments prove the Promenade is far from lost. It is still the city’s communal heart; it simply needs thoughtful stewardship, imagination, and restraint rather than spectacle and overdevelopment.
Immerse yourself in a sanctuary where nature’s tranquility meets the vibrancy of city life. Urban Jungle is more than a plant store it’s a communitycentered oasis bringing a lush slice of paradise to your urban lifestyle. Here, we passionately believe in the power of plants to transform spaces and
The Power of Stewardship
Urban design cannot solve homelessness or addiction on its own, but stewardship matters. The success of The Grove, Palisades Village, and Westfield Century City shows how maintenance, programming, and management can transform urban spaces into safe, welcoming environments. These places thrive because they are cared for — not because they are overbuilt.
Santa Monica once understood this balance. A clean, inviting, and humanscaled environment is not elitist; it is foundational. What’s missing today is coordination, vision, and the courage to say that the city’s natural assets, open sky,
Santa Monica Architects for a Responsible Tomorrow
Continue from page 6
light, ocean views, and breezes are its true economy.
Lessons from Santa Barbara
A few hours north, Santa Barbara’s Funk Zone offers a compelling contrast. Once industrial, it evolved into a lively blend of tasting rooms, surf shops, and galleries that mix locals and tourists effortlessly. The city’s focus on design consistency, scale, and public comfort has made it both a commercial success and a beloved community space.
Beyond the Funk Zone, Santa Barbara’s waterfront and State Street show how tourism and local life can coexist without the noise of gimmicks or oversized structures. The lesson is clear: vitality does not require spectacle — it requires authenticity.
A Path Forward
Santa Monica’s challenge is not whether to grow but how to grow responsibly. Progress means building smarter, not just taller.
To restore balance, the city could:
● Prioritize safety, maintenance, and accessibility through visible, humane stewardship.
● Encourage and incentivize smaller, local businesses that strengthen identity and diversity.
● Repurpose large, vacant retail spaces on the Promenade to create flexible areas for local tenants and cultural programming.
● Preserve low-rise scale, light, and ocean views as non-negotiable elements of Santa Monica’s urban character.
● Invest in experiences that unite people, from outdoor concerts and art walks to communal viewings and seasonal markets, turning downtown into a true community gathering place.
Reclaiming the Promise
The soul of Santa Monica lives in its layered light, its ocean breeze, and the sense of calm that comes when the horizon opens wide before you. These are not nostalgic luxuries; they are the essence of what people seek when they come here.
The marine layer will burn off by noon, revealing that same brilliant Pacific that has drawn people west for generations. The question is: what will they find? A genuine beach town that restores and welcomes, or another coastal city optimized for profit and density?
By Matt Hoefler, NCARB, Architect
S.M.a.r.t: Santa Monica Architects for a Responsible Tomorrow
Mario Fonda-Bonardi, AIA, former Planning Commissioner, Robert H. Taylor, AIA, Architect, Dan Jansenson Architect, former Building and Life Safety Commissioner, Samuel Tolkin Architect, former Planning Commissioner, Michael Jolly, AIR-CRE, Jack Hillbrand, AIA, Landmarks Commission Architect, Phil Brock, former SM Mayor (Ret), Heather Thomason, community organizer
For previous articles, see www. santamonicaarch.wordpress.com/writing
Continue from page 5
Doors drummer John Densmore was right behind. Dozens of other big names, some of who had performed there, were lined up, but not needed once RPG Group came forward. If they give it the okay, that’s it, we figured. No brainer. We figured wrong. Here in Santa Monica, developers could make millions by putting housing, retail, and a hotel where our Civic Auditorium stands. The four who voted down that great offer –
CAROLINE TOROSIS
NATALYA ZERNITSKAYA
JESSE ZWICK
DAN HALL
– all have ties to developers, and have voiced their philosophies that they love dense housing and feel it will solve all our big problems here, from homelessness to affordability. Which anyone not driven by ideology knows is a load of hooey. I have spent lots of ink over the years detailing why this is hooey. “Supply and demand” for housing affordability is nonsense when applied to valuable coastal real estate like Santa Monica. New marketrate units raise the prices of all existing stock. Ask a local real estate agent. Or go take a look at the newly-opened $385M development on Broadway, where the old Vons and its parking lot once stood. There are 84 “affordable” units, if you qualify. If you don’t, bring four grand for a studio apartment, $5,555 for a onebedroom, $8,400 for a two-bedroom, and for your families who can manage in three bedrooms, $12,450. If you want a threebedroom on the top two floors, those start at $24,000/month. Run, tell all the street people. See if this makes any sense to them. The top-priced units do include a dog park and other necessities, but no psychological or addiction counseling, job training, or suicide prevention.
SO WHEN AM I GOING TO LAY OFF
These four Council members? There are two dates I have in mind: when they change their minds, their philosophies, and their votes (not betting on it), or when we can get rid of them. A difficult thing to do. But we’ve got to try. A recall is a tough proposition, so don’t even talk about that unless you have a ton of time and $$
to throw at it. Unless we can accumulate even more evidence of corruption, and that is a possibility. God bless emails. But there is an election coming up next year, and if we can change out two of them, we may have a chance, considering Mayor Lana Negrete has become an outstanding, courageous representative of the residents and their concerns. But finding two sterling candidates is a challenge.
I have occasionally, over the years, pointed out that the godawful representation we see in DC is very similar to here. I didn’t say it often because I usually got odd stares or remarks. Now I think it is pretty obvious. We have people in power who believe their election gave a mandate for their philosophy of governing – it didn’t, it gave them a constituency to serve. We desperately need a new breed of politicians, and we need them now, across the board, R and D, and in SM. Who’s gonna run, y’all? Time for everyday heroes, and heroines, for sure.
DON’T MISS
Ken Burns’ six-part documentary “THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION,” 10 years in the making, will air for six successive nights on PBS starting this Sunday. He is a documentarian without political leaning in his work. The timing on this is pretty important. I think even the history buffs among us will find something to learn.
It’s good to be back with CURIOUS CITY, 14+ years old, and now in The
Wilshire Advisors, LLC in Santa Monica, CA is seek’g Sr. Associate, Sr. Accountant(s) to work w/ various depts to gather & anlyz complex fincl data. No trvl. Hybrid role w/in-office & WFH 4 days/wk. Salary $114,000/yr. Email resumes to recruiting@wilshire.com.
Mirror. Thank you, publisher TJ, and Editor Dolores, fine folks to work with. And to former Santa Monica Mayor Phil Brock for believing in me and laying the groundwork. The best way to see it every other Friday, along with my weekly NOTEWORTHY music and arts calendar column, is to subscribe, free, no strings, to my substack MUSIC, POLITICS, LIFE, at –
https://bit.ly/3UGkK1F
Charles Andrews has lived in Santa Monica for 39 years and wouldn’t live anywhere else in the world. Really. Send love and/or rebuke to him at therealmrmusic@gmail.com
SANTA MONICA COLLEGE
SANTA MONICA COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Dr. Nancy Greenstein, Chair; Dr. Sion Roy, Vice Chair; Dr. Luis Barrera Castañón; Anastasia Foster; Dr. Margaret Quiñones-Perez; Dr. Tom Peters; Rob Rader; Sophia Manavi, Student Trustee; Kathryn E. Jeffery, Ph.D., Superintendent/President Santa Monica College | 1900 Pico Blvd. Santa Monica, CA 90405 | smc.edu
Photo by Ed Gandara