Fascinating post about the Mary Busch/Robert James case, gsjansen! I had never heard about it before. I'm still confused about where his house is/was located, being that in the first post it's mentioned as being on West 8th St. (which made me assume Los Angeles), but then later on it says that his house was in La Cañada; I don't recall any numbered streets in La Cañada. That town is so boring, too--nice, somewhat upscale, and home to Descanso Gardens and all, but for the most part, a boring place. And now I know it has a noir aspect to it. Cool!
This gives more details about Robert James, who was a really seedy guy:
http://murderrevisited.blogspot.com/
It said that the rope used to hang him was the wrong length--it took him over 10 minutes to die.