Authorities say the customer’s death was first ruled natural before investigators reopened the case.
VENTURA, CA — A Southern California plumber accused of killing a fellow tradesman is now also charged with murdering an elderly customer by poisoning him with fentanyl, then using the man’s phone and financial cards to move money into his own accounts, prosecutors said.
The added murder charge grew out of a financial trail that investigators said surfaced while prosecutors prepared for trial in the earlier killing. The case has drawn attention because the older man died at home and was not initially considered a homicide, and because investigators say the suspect had been sent to the man’s home for plumbing work before the death.
Prosecutors identified the defendant as Rotherie Durell Foster of Camarillo. He was already in custody in Ventura County when investigators arrested him in May 2024 on suspicion of killing Bill Dean Levy, a retired bookkeeper and former U.S. Postal Service employee who lived in Granada Hills, a Los Angeles neighborhood. Foster is also charged in the 2022 killing of Jose Velasquez, a 35-year-old Camarillo resident and plumber prosecutors described as a work acquaintance. Foster has pleaded not guilty in the earlier case, and his attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment at the time the second case was announced.
Levy, 72, was found dead in his home on Jan. 10, 2022. Officials said there were no obvious signs of foul play, and the death was initially treated as natural. The case changed months later, investigators said, after prosecutors reviewing bank records in the Velasquez case noticed recurring transfers and deposits tied to Levy’s accounts that appeared to benefit Foster. Senior Deputy District Attorney Amber Lee said it took time to “put the pieces together,” and that Levy’s name stood out in the records because of how often it appeared. Investigators said they saw at least one transaction dated the day after Levy was found dead.
Authorities said the unusual bank activity triggered a deeper review that pulled in the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office and the Los Angeles Police Department. Investigators said they learned Foster had performed plumbing work at Levy’s Granada Hills townhouse on several occasions before Levy died. Cellphone and financial records helped investigators connect Foster to the victim, according to officials. Prosecutors said Levy’s body was later exhumed and the death was reclassified as a homicide caused by fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid. Prosecutors allege the fentanyl was administered intentionally and that the killing was carried out for financial gain.
The allegations against Foster stretch beyond the two homicide cases. Prosecutors and sheriff’s detectives said they identified him as the suspect in a December 2021 financial fraud case involving another person who had hired him for plumbing work in Woodland Hills. Investigators also connected Foster to an armed robbery at a convenience store in Fillmore in July 2022, authorities said. In the Levy case, prosecutors said Foster stole the victim’s identity and used access to the man’s phone, bank card and credit cards to drain accounts. In the Velasquez case, District Attorney Erik Nasarenko said investigators expect evidence will show Foster violently took ATM passwords and checks, then used the information to withdraw or move money.
Velasquez was last seen July 27, 2022, and was reported missing a few days later. On Oct. 3, 2022, hikers found his remains in the Santa Monica Mountains off Mulholland Highway, prosecutors said. The Los Angeles County coroner determined Velasquez died from multiple gunshot wounds, authorities said. Foster was charged in January 2023 with murdering Velasquez for financial gain, along with counts including identity theft, forgery and being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. Prosecutors later announced the added Levy murder charge after investigators said they uncovered the financial link while building the Velasquez case.
Although Levy lived and died in Los Angeles County, prosecutors said the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office granted Ventura County jurisdiction to prosecute the murder charge alongside the Ventura County case. Foster was held in the Ventura County Jail without bail when the second charge was announced. Prosecutors said the investigation remained active and involved multiple agencies. Nasarenko and Ventura County Sheriff Jim Fryhoff publicly detailed the claims during a May 2024 news conference that highlighted the alleged fentanyl poisoning and the financial fraud investigators said followed Levy’s death.
In September 2025, after a seven-day preliminary hearing, prosecutors said a judge ordered Foster to stand trial on 35 felony counts, including two murders, robbery, burglary, grand theft and multiple counts related to elder fraud, identity theft and forgery. Prosecutors said the court also held Foster to answer on special circumstances and other allegations, including murder for financial gain, multiple murders and murder by poison. Those allegations, if proved, can significantly raise potential punishment under California law. Foster remained in custody, prosecutors said, and court proceedings were expected to continue in Ventura County Superior Court.
For neighbors and friends, officials said Levy’s death had seemed like a quiet tragedy until the financial records pointed investigators back to his final days. Sheriff Jim Fryhoff said Levy was known as a quiet but nice man, and that there was no information at the time of his death to suggest foul play. Investigators now say the case illustrates how routine service calls can create opportunities for offenders to identify targets, a concern officials raised as they described the alleged pattern behind the charges.
As of the most recent public court update, Foster was still in custody while the case moved through Ventura County Superior Court, with prosecutors pursuing the two murder counts and the related fraud and robbery allegations.
Author note: Last updated February 8, 2026.