It is often said that it is hard to work in the same office as one’s spouse; working in the same office with a former spouse is often unbearable. When the marital relationship deteriorates, the working relationship can become a disaster waiting to happen. In some cases, the situation devolves into something sinister.

On October 25, 1990, forty-two-year-old Anita Green was shot to death in the parking lot of her fifty-four-year-old employer and husband Mel Green, whom she was in the process of divorcing. Although Mel was in his office when the shooting occurred, suspicion fell upon him.

Mel Green was convicted of orchestrating his wife’s murder, but it is still unknown who pulled the trigger.

Anita and Mel Green

Anita Rice and Mel Green met in 1974, when Anita was hired as a bookkeeper by Mel’s North Hollywood, California, accounting firm. Both were married, but after nearly seven years of a clandestine relationship, they left their respective spouses to wed one another.

The marriage seemed an odd fit, both literally and figuratively. Anita was affable, attractive, and healthy; Mel was reserved, rumpled, and egregiously unfit, tipping the scales at over five-hundred pounds. Nevertheless, Anita, somehow, was drawn to the grotesquely obese man twelve years her senior.

The couple resided in Encino, a section of the San Fernando region of Los Angeles. Mel later made his wife the office manager of his firm.

Both Mel and Anita were Jewish; they founded a local synagogue, Shir Chagash—The Reform Congregation, in 1983. Anita became its president in 1987. As her involvement in her church activities and other interests grew, she became more distant from her aloof husband, whose interest in the synagogue had waned. Soon, Anita did to Mel what she had done to her first husband by beginning a romantic relationship with the rabbi, Steven Jacobs.

Mel and Anita separated in February 1990; five months later, Anita told Mel she wanted a divorce. Even though Mel was himself engaging in extramarital affairs, he was upset over Anita’s relationship with the rabbi and fought her every step of the way. Throughout the contentious divorce proceedings, Mel bombarded Anita and her lawyer with threatening letters. Oddly, all through the ordeal, he begged Anita to continue working for him; surprisingly, Anita agreed.

Anita took residence in an apartment near the office from which she primarily worked; Mel continued to live in the former couple’s Encino home.

Marital Relationship Deteriorates;

Work Relationship Continues

On the morning of October 25, 1990, a man who worked across the street from Mel’s accounting firm observed Mel emerge from a seldom-used building side door.

After seeing Mel standing in the same spot a few minutes later, he saw Anita drive into the accounting firm’s parking lot. She was followed by a man on a motorcycle, who was wearing a helmet with a visor. Several motorists said the motorcycle was practically on the bumper of Anita’s Corvette.

Anita Arrives At Work

Another man working atop a roof of a building across the street observed the biker park the motorcycle on the wrong side of the road then briskly approach Anita’s car as she parked in her spot. Before Anita could exit the vehicle, the man approached her and fired one shot into her torso, and, just as briskly, returned to his motorcycle and sped away.

A third witness saw the motorcyclist without his helmet and helped police develop a composite drawing of him.

Composite Drawing of Anita’s Killer

Anita Green was comatose for two days. As friends gathered with Mel at her bedside, he showed no emotion. One friend, Phyllis Baltin, described Mel’s demeanor as “nauseating” as he boasted about how good he looked because of the weight he had lost on his new diet.

When Anita died on October 27, Mel’s reaction seemed apathetic. The widower’s blasé attitude cast suspicions on him and the sentiments only intensified when he refused to talk to the police.

Far From a Grieving Widower

Investigators determined Mel had told Anita what time to arrive at the office to get her paycheck. They surmised that he hired the motorcyclist to follow her and to shoot her when she arrived at the business. They believe he was angered that Anita was seeking a large settlement in the divorce and that she had threatened to expose him for the shenanigans that were learned after her murder. Mel was pocketing much of his accounting firm’s money for himself; the tax consultant was also skimping on his taxes. Anita had also told friends that the framed Master’s Degree from Jackson State University bearing Melvin Green’s name and hanging on his office wall was phony.

In April 1991, despite no physical evidence that he had hired a hit man, Mel Green was charged with conspiring to kill Anita. On March 4, 1992, he was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Mel is Convicted of Anita’s Murder

Anita’s friend, journalist and author Michele Samit, planned to write a book about her friend’s murder. She visited Mel in jail in May 1992, while he was awaiting transfer to a state prison. Against his lawyer’s advice, Mel, insisting he was innocent, agreed to be interviewed for her book.

Through the course of their conversations, Michele became convinced of Mel’s guilt. She found he had sold a $30,000 coin and stamp collection three weeks before Anita’s murder; she believes Mel used the money to pay for the hit on his wife.

During one visit, Mel ordered Michele to leave the room when a rough looking man came to speak to him. Michele later saw this man leaving on a motorcycle, and she believes he resembled the composite drawing of Anita’s killer.

When Michele returned to Mel, she told him she believed he had hired a hit man to kill Anita. Michele says Mel then threatened to kill her if she published her theory in her book.

Mel was transferred to Calipatria State Prison, east of San Diego, on the following day, June 17. From there, he sent a series of letters to Michele, threatening her and her children. Over the following few months, the front gate of Michele’s house was ripped from its hinges and the home was vandalized. Michele’s nose was later broken when she was attacked from behind. It was never determined who perpetrated any of the acts.

Michele believes the man she saw in the jail was the same man pictured in the police composite of Anita’s killer and the man who later ransacked her home and attacked her.

Michele Samit

Michele Samit’s book, No Sanctuary, about Anita Green’s murder, was published in July 1993.

She says there were no further incidents of harassment following the publication.

The Book is Published

Mel Green’s appeal of his murder conviction was denied. He died behind bars, still protesting his innocence.

His supporters were few.

Appeals Denied; Mel Dies

The man who shot Anita Green to death has never been identified. In 1990, he had long blond hair, dark eyes, and a muscular build. He was believed to be in his early thirties, meaning he would likely today be in his early-to-mid sixties. The motorcycle he rode in the commission of the murder was red or maroon and may have been a Suzuki.

If you have any information which you believe may lead to this man’s identity or any other information on the murder of Anita Green, please contact the North Hollywood, California, Police Department at 818-754-8300.

The Gunman Remains Unidentified

Anita Green was active in the Jewish reform movement in Israel and with Central American refugee support programs. Her parents, Yudel and Reva Rice, were both Holocaust survivors.

Two weeks before her murder, Anita and Reva participated in a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of a Jewish temple in the Woodland Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles. For the groundbreaking, they used a shovel from Auschwitz.

When the synagogue was completed, it was named the Anita M. Green Memorial Chapel.

Tribute to Anita

SOURCES:

• Los Angeles Times
• No Sanctuary by Michele Samit
• Unsolved Mysteries