One of the most notorious killers in Portland, Oregon’s history is back behind bars this week, Us Weekly confirmed.
Lawrence “Larry” Hurwitz was arrested by police in the town of Sandy on January 16, according to documents shared with Us Weekly.
To longtime Oregonians, Hurwitz is perhaps better known as the Starry Night Killer.
Back in 1990, Hurwitz murdered his former employee, Tim Moreau, who was a 21-year-old college student. Moreau had worked at a music venue and nightclub Hurwitz owned called the Starry Night. The club was the scene for the January 23, 1990, murder, which Hurwitz got help committing from another employee.
Tim was reported missing in 1990 and for years, the case was cold. Then, in 1998, that very worker, George Castagnola, confessed to playing a part in Tim’s murder. He came clean about the entire night, and implicated Hurwitz. The two men, he told authorities, had strangled Tim with a garrote they’d made out of microphone wire and a broken broom handle.
The garrote, he said, broke, leaving Tim unconscious. Tim’s head was then wrapped in duct tape to ensure his death.
Castagnola said they put his body in garbage bags they tossed in the trunk of a car. Tim was buried in a shallow grave in a forested area of Washington State. They later planted his car at the airport, Castagnola explained, to make it appear that Tim had fled the area.
Tim was killed in order to prevent him from reporting illegal activity at the club, investigators would learn from Castagnola. Hurwitz and other employees were involved in a counterfeit ticketing scheme, selling passes to concerts at the concert hall at a restaurant managed by Hurwitz’s girlfriend.
By doing this, they were able to bypass fees they otherwise would have paid to Ticketmaster, music promoters, and the performers who took the stage, keeping that cash for themselves.
Both killers received plea deals in 2000, Us Weekly confirmed. Hurwitz also was indicted by the federal government for income tax evasion.
Castagnola served 10 years and moved to Hawaii, and Hurwitz served his 12-year sentence and moved to Wisconsin in 2008.
Tim was a student at Reed College who was majoring in Philosophy. He had a 3.696 cumulative grade average when he decided to take time off from school to work in the music industry in Portland.
Tim’s remains have never been found. Soon after the murder, the venue was sold and renamed the Roseland Theater.
Hurwitz, now 71, is back in police custody on $500,000 bond for violating his lifetime parole. That violation occurred when he was arrested on one count of harassment.
Hurwitz is accused in this most recent arrest of unlawful and intentional harassment by means of offensive physical contact, KOIN reported.
He was also arrested in 2019 by California authorities for possessing 4.4 pounds of cocaine and $328,000 in drug money. Reports indicate he eventually pleaded guilty to those charges in 2021 and was sentenced to eight years — three and a half of which he served.
A jury trial is scheduled for March 19.
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