WeHo salon murder-for-hire trial: Detective testifies

DEL AIRE, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Details of the investigation into a West Hollywood salon owner's bizarre murder-for-hire plot came to light in a Los Angeles court on Monday.

Dawn DaLuise was arrested in March 2014 for allegedly trying to contract a former NFL player to murder rival business owner Gabriel Suarez. Defense attorneys say she was only venting about someone she thought was maligning her name.

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Det. Steve McCauley testified DaLuise gave him a list of people she said saw Suarez conduct a smear campaign against her.

McCauley also said DaLuise was angry and crying. She showed him pornographic pictures that had turned up on fliers, in emails and on Craigslist. Her face had been Photoshopped on lewd images along with her phone number and an invitation to play out a rape fantasy.

Investigators later traced the images, not to the business competitor, but to a supposed friend of DaLuise, Edward Feinstein.

Feinstein was initially arrested last year on suspicion of stalking DaLuise and handing out those photos.

But McCauley says it was one of several twists in the case. He originally was trying to help DaLuise track her stalker, but evidence arose that DaLuise may have been misleading him.

McCauley said he contacted several of the people on that list of people she said were witnesses to Suarez's alleged crimes and they could not corroborate her statements.

Investigators also uncovered a text message on DaLuise's phone to Feinstein: "What time can you talk today? We need to firm up our story for the detective."

Another text referred to a former NFL player who might help her: "I found someone who is going to take Gabriel out. His name is Chris Geile and he's an ex-Detroit Lion quarterback."

Geile told Eyewitness News exclusively DaLuise never tried to hire him as a hitman. Investigators say Geile was an innocent third party.

Suarez took the stand late Monday. He said he found some of the fliers planted in his salon, but didn't know how they got there. He is expected to continue his testimony Tuesday.