Date With the Devil by Don Lasseter Page B

David also enjoyed associating with alleged underworld characters. He sometimes patronized nightclubs favored by these people and occasionally accepted invitations to attend their social functions. At these times, David would caution his companion, “If I introduce myself as ‘Anthony,’ just go along with it.” But he wouldn’t explain why he wanted to use a phony name. Nor would he acknowledge any monetary transactions involving the so-called Mafia connections.
    With an ever-expanding network of clients and cases, Mahler’s practice required traveling to other states. In the final days of the 1980s, he jetted to Southern California and met someone who would share the next twenty years of his life, on and off.
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    Two women who would play crucial roles in David Mahler’s future chose to spend segments of their lives in Newport Beach, an affluent, picturesque Pacific Coastal city in Orange County. Blessed with a scenic bay, populated islands, and magnificent residential sites, the city harbors a fleet of yachts and overflows with garish mansions. John Wayne occupied a home in Newport for many years and moored his 136-foot pleasure boat, The Wild Goose, within a few steps of his bayfront estate. He could often be seen patronizing, in both food and drink, a nearby restaurant known as the Arches. One of the most popular beaches in Southern California graces Newport’s shoreline. The pier and the white sand attract thousands of visitors year-round.
    A diminutive blonde, with a knockout figure and blue-green eyes, lived near the beach in the late 1980s. Stacy Tipton had been born and raised in Visalia, about 220 miles north of Newport, in 1963. After high school, and a short tenure at the local College of the Sequoias, she had accompanied a girlfriend south to attend Orange Coast College. She earned an Associate of Arts degree and continued her studies at Cal State, Long Beach. Sharing quarters with her pals, Stacy worked first as a receptionist for an advertising firm, then later for a boat sales agency. She characterized her time in the bay community as “living the good life in Newport with the other beach bums.”
    While Stacy enjoyed a few drinks with some friends one evening in the Cannery Restaurant, right next to the bay, she made the acquaintance of a man with a New Jersey accent. “I met David Mahler when he was visiting from New York. He was at the restaurant with a mutual friend. He asked for my phone number and he gave me his. I think this was about 1988.”
    The brief encounter might have ended there, but an odd coincidence kept it alive. “The following week, I was with a girlfriend and we stopped by another friend’s house. And David was there! My friend didn’t know that we had already met. It was really strange. At first, David and I were just sort of like pals with friendly flirtations, but grew fonder of each other through phone calls. Then, when he got busy in New York, I didn’t hear from him for quite a while. But one night, while I was still living in Newport, I got a call really late and it was him. He said he was going through his old phone messages and found one from me. After that, we corresponded regularly. He sent me a ticket to New York, and that began a series of visits. I would fly back and forth, and wound up living with him in the East.”
    Asked if she had been attracted to David Mahler from the very beginning, Stacy replied, “Well, it was really hard not to be. He was very charismatic. I made the trip back and forth at least ten times, and we fell head over heels in love.”
    Stacy moved in with Mahler, despite reservations by her mother in Visalia. “She was very hesitant about it because I would be so far away. David assured her that she need not worry and that he would take good care of her little Stacy.”
    In the apartment they shared, Stacy helped him with his legal work, performing mostly clerical and