Louise Berman lived a troubled but free-spirited life before she turned up dead in a desert grave.
Her four husbands also had troubled lives… Two ended up murdered. One died after a horrible car wreck. One caught polio and was afflicted for life.
Born Virginia Rhoda Wiltshire in 1933, she grew up in East Los Angeles with a mother who cycled through countless men – including one who molested Louise.
Tall and buxom as a teen, Louise began dating older boys.
As a high school sophomore, Louise ran off to Las Vegas with John Woodward, hoping to elope. But a sharp-eyed clerk realized Louise was underaged and sent her home.
Undeterred, Louise begged for permission to marry John. When she was seventeen her mother relented, and the two lovers wed.
The marriage produced two sons, but reality closed in when John caught polio and one of his arms was permanently paralyzed.
By the mid-1950’s Louise was divorced, living in Hollywood, and working as a secretary.
In 1961, she bumped into a former classmate named Joe Gatto. Their passionate affair culminated in a hasty marriage and quickie divorce.
Joe became a renowned teacher and founding faculty member of L.A. County High School for the Arts. But in 2013, Joe was found shot to death in his home. No one has ever been arrested in the mysterious case.
Back to 1961… Only nine months after Louise’s divorce from Joe, she married an L.A. firefighter with movie star looks named Wes Westerman.
Louise gave birth to a daughter named Laura.
Then Louise got drawn into the 1960’s counterculture scene and began hanging out, smoking weed, and dropping acid.
After divorcing Wes she bedded a series of lovers – including a guitarist, an architect, a former Marine, and a hippie who lived in a teepee.
Wes convinced a judge that because of Louise’s wild-child ways he should gain full custody of Laura.
Louise took Laura, ran off to Colorado, and lived for a while in a cabin. When Louise returned to California with Laura, Wes found out and alerted the police.
Louise landed in jail – she was broke and about to turn forty. After being released, she moved in with her eldest son Michael and rebuilt her life.
Louise stopped using drugs and alcohol and began practicing transcendental meditation.
That’s when Louise met Barry Berman, who was seventeen years younger and the sole heir to the Kahlua liqueur fortune.
Louise and Barry married… but then tragedy struck. A car driven by Laura, who by then was nineteen, got swept away in a flood. Laura’s body was never found.
In 1986, after a rough patch where Barry and Louise almost broke up, they took a makeup trip to a remote desert valley and camped at clothing-optional hot springs.
On the morning of January 6, 1986, Barry and Louise went for a walk in the desert… and never returned.
Three years later, their bodies turned up miles away in a shallow grave. Louise and Barry had been murdered.
By the time I started investigating the case in 2014, Wes Westerman was the only one of Louise’s husbands who remained alive. We made an appointment to meet… but before the date arrived he rolled his truck and suffered grave injuries, lingering for months before he died.
Yet some of Louise’s closest friends continue to thrive and they shared their memories with me of Louise’s brightest moments.
If you want to know more, read my book The Berman Murders – now available for preorder in paperback on Amazon for only $19.95!
