Jury recommends death penalty for Daniel Wozniak, Orange County actor convicted of murder

SANTA ANA, Calif. (KABC) -- A jury recommended the death penalty for Daniel Wozniak, an Orange County actor convicted of murdering two people.

The community theater actor was found guilty in December 2015 of murdering his 26-year-old friend, Army veteran Sam Herr, and Herr's 23-year-old friend Juri "Julie" Kibuishi, an aspiring fashion designer.

The families of Herr and Kibuishi said they can now begin to move forward from this terrible chapter in their life.

"It was so, so, so, so long overdue. But you know I can start healing," Steve Herr, father of Sam Herr said.

Prosecutors said Wozniak, facing eviction, with no paying job and about to get married, hatched a plan to kill Sam Herr knowing he had earned more than $60,000 serving in Afghanistan.

Prosecutors said he lured him to a theater attic at the Los Alamitos Joint Forces Training Base in May 2010, then shot and killed him when his back was turned.

He later sawed off Sam Herr's head, his arm, and hand to make it harder to identify him.

Sam Herr's body parts were later found scattered in El Dorado Park in Long Beach.

Wozniak then took Sam Herr's wallet and cell phone, and tricked a teenager into withdrawing Herr's money.

Then using Sam Herr's phone and pretending to be Herr, Wozniak sent text messages to Kibuishi to lure her to Sam Herr's apartment. She believed she was helping a friend who needed to talk.

Wozniak shot Kibuishi twice in the head, then desecrated her body, pulling her pants down to make it look like Sam Herr had raped her.

Prosecutors said it was to try to throw police off his trail.

Wozniak is scheduled to be officially sentenced on March 11.