Catherine Lavinio was a Judge with the State Superior Court of California.
In one antitrust case before her death, she ruled against financier Dale "the Whale" Biederbeck, costing him an estimated $210 million. Biederbeck swore revenge. His first step was to convince Judge Lavinio's housekeeper, Louisa, to come work for him instead. This allowed him to learn about the judge's house, including the location of her hide-a-key.
One night in 2002, she went out to dinner with a colleague, Judge Hackman, at a restaurant called Tuscany's. Later that same night as she was preparing for bed, she was bludgeoned to death by Biederbeck's personal physician, Christian Vezza, acting on Biederbeck's orders. Vezza then staged the crime scene to look as though Biederbeck had done it (even though he was a complete invalid) even going so far as to make a phony 911 call, posing as the judge herself using his talent for voice impressions.
With help from Adrian Monk, the truth about her murder was revealed and both Vezza and Biederbeck went to prison.
- Actress Liise Keeling apparently supplied the voice of the judge on the 911 tape.