Courtney Aoki, a.k.a Kitty Kitanna, Danced at a Weekly Best of 2012 Spot and was Engaged and Pregnant--But Was the Slain Woman an Escort?

Courtney Aoki, a.k.a Kitty Kitanna, Danced at a Weekly Best of 2012 Spot and was Engaged and Pregnant--But Was the Slain Woman an Escort?

By Matt Coker Mon., Feb. 25 2013 at 12:12 PM

The young woman whose murder in Ladera Ranch apparently kicked off last Tuesday's Orange County freeway shooting spree that ended with a total of four dead (including the shooter) has a connection to the OC Weekly.

A very loose connection, that is.

According to the model/actress' Facebook page under her stage name, Kitty Kitanna, she was also a dancer--at Eye Candy Bikini Bar in Costa Mesa. That was the Weekly's Best of 2012 Bikini Bar, based on the entry that begins like this: "If you're going to go to a bikini bar, then go to a place where hipsters are shown the door; where ogling is not only accepted, but also mandatory; where the drink prices haven't changed in 20 years and the music doesn't stray far from Lynyrd Skynyrd." Directions to the establishment can be found through our company's award-winning Voices Places app.

Facebook

Courtney Aoki/Kitty Kitanna, R.I.P.

Her Facebook page reveals Aoki was engaged, that on Jan. 26 she "liked" Cavallero Fangs, "a Community Page about Vampires," and that the 20-year-old Buena Park resident leaves behind this cryptic favorite quote: "Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today."

(That quote has been attributed by others to the late actor James Dean, but it is actually a variation on this hadith from the Islamic Prophet Muhammed" "Live for your afterlife as if you will die tomorrow, and live for this life as if you will live forever.")

Ali Syed, also 20, is accused of fatally shooting Aoki in his parents' Ladera Ranch home before going on a carjacking-murder-suicide-random-shooting spree that also took the lives of Melvin Lee Edwards, 69 of Laguna Hills, and Jeremy Lewis, 26, of Fullerton. Moments later, Syed is said to have turned his shotgun on himself.

BREAKING NEWS: 4 Dead in A.M. Shooting Spree

There is no mention of Aoki's death on the Kitty Kitanna page, but her fiance Dave "Lefty" Gutierrez has pretty much turned his Facebook page into a memorial to her. He made a large banner photo on his page out of this image:

Facebook

"Lefty" remembers his "Kitty."

Gutierrez includes messages like these: "R.I.P my pretty Kitty; I'll always love you now & in death. R.I.P 6/27/92-2/19/13," and "I was engaged with her all along but now may she rest in peace. She deserves @ least that much if anything. Gone but never forgotten." According to words he reportedly gave to KCBS/Channel 2 news on Sunday, he is also mourning the loss of a child as he revealed Aoki was three months pregnant. They were to marry in the spring.

"But dangers of the world just ate up my girl and my kid," Gutierrez told CBS2/KCAL9's Andrea Fujii. "She was going down a slippery slope, people wanted to take advantage of her. And unfortunately I couldn't be there 100 percent of the time."

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RonaldMexico

That girl, and that guy, there is no way in the history of humans she is touching that turd without monetary compensation.

mer_la_mer

...That family needs to be investigated. The girl was likely an escort, the family most likely paid for - for their son. some shady ish going on here

JGlanton topcommenter

@mer_la_mer

You can be sure they are being investigated. Every phone call, email, text, and tweet. Something smells in Syed-land. You don't buy your shut-in boy a shotgun. You don't make a 9-1-1 call with vague statements like they did. They seemed intentionally vague. The girl wasn't an escort, per se. You might call her an entertainer.

ofahmy69

1 Like

my fool-proof theory is dat syed hooked up w dis hooker a few months ago, got her knocked up, and she came to tell him he's da baby dad and she keepin da baby. he couldn't live w dat and blasted her.... he shot her multiple times, including face and stomach, and basically everyone else he carjacked and killed afterwards to run away were just collateral damage dat happened to be in da wrong place, wrong time. it was prolly da first and only time he's ever had sex too... and now da last. hot damn i shoulda been a csi investigator!

mer_la_mer

@ofahmy69 I think you're on to something here

garwom1

Perhaps it was a dispute over monetary issues, which as we all know can be frustrating. Although frustration and a complete psychotic episode are not really very closely connected. And then there is always the issue of drugs which can elevate a situation to a ridiculous level rather quickly. Did anyone see the movie titled, "The Unforgiven?"

vegandawg23 topcommenter

@garwom1It's a hell of a thing, killin' a man. Take away all he's got, and all he's ever gonna have.

vegandawg23 topcommenter

@garwom1Well, sir, you are a cowardly son of a bitch! You just shot an unarmed man!

Well, he should have armed himself

El-vago-trago

Um, it's kind of a "no-brainer" why she was there. Mujeres de la noche and other sex-workers, is a couple hundred bucks worth ending up like Courtney?

JGlanton topcommenter

@El-vago-trago

What exactly is your "no-brainer" theory? I'll tell you if you have brains, or no-brains.

El-vago-trago

1 Like

@JGlanton @El-vago-trago She was "on the job", thats the "no brainer". If you have a more plausible theory about why she showed up at a stranger's house at 4AM, kindly elaborate.

JGlanton topcommenter

@mer_la_mer @JGlanton @El-vago-trago

No. It wasn't "pay for sex". She was not a prostitute. She did something else. Maybe the stupid kid didn't understand that. Maybe he was going to kill whoever he could get to come to his room regardless of their purpose.

mer_la_mer

@JGlanton @El-vago-trago are you kidding me? do they have to spell it out? a pay-for-sex-job

JGlanton topcommenter

@El-vago-trago I don't need a theory. I know. Why can't you be specific? On what job?

JGlanton topcommenter

The police already know why she was at Syed's house. They have her phone records and know her associates. Computer records. Seen her name and services on a website. There's just no point for them to be the ones who tarnish the deceased victim's reputation, and subject her family and friends to sensational media. Since some of us know, I doubt it will stay buried for long. The real mystery is what made Syed crack.

garwom1

Possibly an interesting connection with this article exists. OC Weekly, volume 16, number 17, from December 24-30, 2010, page 55 section 935 reads, "This College Girl" Knows how to give good brain. No request will be turned down. Courtney, and then gives phone number. Perhaps before the Kity K days.