Girlfriend Suspected in Boyfriend’s Slaying

Former Laguna Beach resident Michele Lynn Green will be arraigned at the Central Jail Court in Santa Ana Tuesday, charged with one felony count of murder.

She is suspected in the weekend stabbing death of live-in boyfriend Richard Begley, 52, in Laguna Niguel.

Prosecutors say they will request that Green be held for $1 million bail. If convicted she faces a maximum sentence of 26 years to life.

Friend Rodger Healey  said he and others  gathered Monday for a sundown tribute to Begley, who also grew up in Laguna Beach. Other friends Brandy Faber and Dede Westgaard say Begley worked as a plumber and occasional lobsterman, jobs that gave him the flexibility to surf when conditions were good. He was known for giving bear-hug greetings and planting sloppy wet kisses on friends male and female, Faber said.

Green and Begley, classmates at Laguna Beach High School in the ‘70s, both were previously married. They had started dating two years ago and friends say their relationship appeared good, Faber and Westgaard said.

A sheriff’s spokesman says Green acknowledged to deputies she had been drinking after her arrest Saturday, Feb. 21. Deputies responded to an 8:30 p.m. call about a man sprawled on a lawn on La Vida Drive and discovered a stabbing victim with a fatal abdominal wound that paramedics could not revive.

Investigators learned that Green and Begley were involved in a domestic dispute prior to the stabbing, but have yet to determine the reason for the dispute or a motive, sheriff’s spokesman Lt. Jeff Hallock said.