Woman Who Killed Man, Self Suspected in 3rd Death

Police are trying to determine whether a Newport Beach woman who was free on bail last week after fatally shooting a house guest killed a second man before taking her own life.

Detectives from three police departments are working the case. Officials said the three dead people knew each other and at one point all lived in the woman’s apartment in a gated community of Newport Beach.

Karen Mandilk, 41, was arrested May 16 in the shooting death of Paul Emile Strazicich, 42, of Anaheim.

Mandilk called police about 5:30 a.m. from her apartment and told dispatchers that she shot Strazicich several times in self-defense after he attacked her with a knife, Newport Beach Police Sgt. Steve Shulman said.

Mandilk was held at the Orange County Jail but released after posting $250,000 bail.

The district attorney’s office was investigating Strazicich’s death but had not yet filed charges against her, said Tori Richards of the district attorney’s office.

Mandilk called the Firing Line shooting range May 24 and asked for directions and information on renting weapons at the range, police said. She showed up at the public range about 9:45 p.m. and rented a .38-caliber revolver.

“It was her first time there and the staff didn’t notice any unusual comments or behavior,” Huntington Beach Police Sgt. Gary Meza said. “She was getting firing lessons and proper techniques from the firearms enthusiasts.”

But after half an hour of practice, a customer shooting near the woman saw her fall. Police said Mandilk shot herself once in the head and died at the scene.

Two days later at the Country Inn Suites in Costa Mesa, a cleaning crew discovered the body of Neal Sheldon, 42, about 9:30 a.m.

He had been hit in the head with an unidentified instrument and died at the hotel, Costa Mesa Police Lt. Dale Birney said.

Sheldon lived with Mandilk. He checked into the hotel for five days and was killed May 23 or May 24.

“All we know is that we have three people that have some association with each other and they’re all deceased,” Birney said. “We are looking at the possibility of her involvement in Mr. Sheldon’s death.”

According to records, Mandilk and Sheldon had moved to Newport Beach from Florida in the mid-1980s and had been involved in at least two lawsuits together in Orange County.

In April 1998, Family Benefits, Inc., a company where Sheldon was president and Mandilk was vice president, sued Que Enterprises Inc. for not allowing them to operate an ATM machine out of a billiard club, according to court records. Family Benefits was awarded $1,668.50 in that case.

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Times staff writer Jack Leonard contributed to this report.