Town note
Lafayette was named after the Marquis de Lafayette, a French military officer of the American Revolutionary War.
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FILE 712 / 26 June 2026 / 77 MIN / express
This is Lafayette, California... this is in Contracosta County about 0:04:01
Lafayette was named after the Marquis de Lafayette, a French military officer of the American Revolutionary War.
about 0:05:46The name came together with the community's first post office in 1857, applied for by the owner and manager of a hotel and general store.
about 0:05:59He first wanted to call the town Centerville, but California already had a Centerville.
about 0:06:12His wife was from Lafayette, Indiana.
about 0:06:42Lafayette was named after the Marquis de Lafayette, a French military officer of the American Revolutionary War.
about 0:05:46The name came together with the community's first post office in 1857, applied for by the owner and manager of a hotel and general store.
about 0:05:59He first wanted to call the town Centerville, but California already had a Centerville.
about 0:06:12His wife was from Lafayette, Indiana.
about 0:06:42In 1857 the name was La Fayette, one word with a capital F.
about 0:06:50In 1864 it was Lafayette, one word with a lower-case f.
about 0:06:58Later it was made two words, La Fayette.
about 0:07:09By 1905 it was back to two words.
about 0:07:15In 1932 the post office was officially changed to one word, Lafayette, and it has stayed that way.
about 0:07:19"25,384"
No direction stated.
As told in 2026 about 0:04:57
"$97,946"
Comparison: "about $30,000 above the national average". Direction: above.
As told in 2026 about 0:05:14
"$1,767,400"
Comparison: "about $1.3 million above the national figure". Direction: above.
As told in 2026 about 0:05:25
4.1 / 5 · average of 3
“Not bad, and nothing in the reviews is under three stars; wealthy people with little to complain about.”about 0:07:31
“Likes every part of it, loves the schools and the lifestyle, and says everything is great.”about 0:07:53
“Went to school there from the age of seven; says being Caucasian in such a white rich community was tough at times, that people are not welcoming to outsiders, and that academics are excellent but extracurriculars are full of favouritism and pressure.”about 0:08:27
In 1993 or 1994 she met Daniel Horowitz, an East Bay defence attorney and television legal analyst, while pitching a screenplay in Hollywood, and they married in 1994. By 2005 she was managing databases at his law practice, and the couple's main project was a 7,000-square-foot house overlooking a canyon on Hunsacker Canyon Road in Lafayette, Contra Costa County, where they were living in a trailer while it was built.
In 1999 he and his mother moved in with old friends Fred and Kim Curiel in Lafayette; while the Curiels built a new house, mother and son lived in a plywood lean-to without plumbing until April 2003.
On 17 September 2005 he used a credit card stolen from a neighbour, John Halpin, to order a $267 vaporizer, and on 13 October 2005 he placed a series of orders for grow lights and cooling equipment billed to another neighbour, Karen Schneider, using the Horowitz-Vitale address for delivery.
Horowitz came home at 6 p.m., saw blood smears on the front door and found his wife just inside the entryway. She had been beaten with a small, irregular hard object, probably a rock, with at least eight injuries on the right side of her head, eleven on the back and seven on the left, a broken nose, two loose teeth, defensive fractures to her left hand and a deep abdominal stab wound; three intersecting cuts forming an H, which the press called a cross of Lorraine, had been carved into her back while she was alive. There was no sexual assault and nothing was taken.
On 16 October Karen Schneider called a neighbourhood meeting about the credit card fraud. In January 2006 five sheets of paper in his handwriting were found in his room, one listing knock out/kidnap, question, keep captive to confirm pins, dirty work and dispose of evidence, followed by cut up, bury.
The investigator Ralph Fernandez has campaigned for over ten years for his innocence, arguing that the partial DNA match on Pamela's foot should be retested and the shoe print was not definitive.
October 15, 2005 / her home on Hunsacker Canyon Road, Lafayette, California
As told in the episode, on 26 June 2026.
Accused
Public places are marked on the map.
crime scene
about 1:09:53home
about 0:46:07other
about 0:42:07other
about 1:02:34landmark
about 0:17:46landmark
about 0:24:10police
about 0:32:20police
about 0:22:43home
about 0:54:04home
about 0:55:43home
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