Livermore Woman's Death Eyed After Husband Arrested For Murder

LIVERMORE, CA — When Laura Rhea Gilliom, died March 29, 2011, in Livermore, her death was ruled suspicious. Her husband, Alan Sylwester, was a suspect in the case, but no charges were brought forward. Now, that cold case is getting added attention after it was announced last week that police in Henderson, Nevada, had arrested 62-year-old Sylwester on suspicion of murdering his second wife, Karen Byer, 63.

In the Henderson arrest report, detectives noted similarities between the two women's deaths, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal: Gilliam died of a medication overdose, but her death was suspicious based on evidence found at the scene. Her nude body was discovered in a bedroom with trauma on her arms, back, neck and face—findings that were similar in the Byer case, according to the arrest report.

Gilliom, a 52-year-old P.h.D., and Sylwester had been married for 27 years and had two children, according to her obituary. The couple moved to Livermore in 2001. Livermore police said the Gilliom case remains open and local investigators have been in communication with Henderson officials.

Sylwester, meanwhile, is being held in Nevada's Clark County Detention Center and has been denied bail.

Read the full Las Vegas Review-Journal story here.