Domino Harvey New Life

At 20, Domino Harvey moved to L.A. and into her mother's house in the Hollywood Hills. Two people who knew her then said her drug problem quickly landed her in rehab. By 1992, she was building a new life in San Diego.

Just as her father had, she began to create an image for herself. "He came across as a very fey, elegant dandy. In fact, he was anything but," said Domino's godfather, Peter Evans, a British journalist and author. "He eventually became what he had created. I think that quality — that complete remake — was in Domino."

She worked briefly as a ranch hand, then became a volunteer firefighter at the Boulevard Fire & Rescue company near the Mexican border. "She said she loved rescuing people," said one of her defense attorneys, Michael Mayock.

Two years later, she returned to L.A. intent on becoming a firefighter but was rejected by the Los Angeles Fire Department. She took courses as an emergency medical technician but never found work as a paramedic.

After reading about a two-week, $300 class for bail enforcement agents, Harvey decided to become a bounty hunter.

Martinez, a Vietnam veteran and gang member turned bounty hunter, was the teacher. "She was young — maybe 22 or 23 at the time — tough and blond," he recalled. "She had on camouflage pants and a camo tank top and a big knife on her belt. She stood out."

Martinez introduced her to his boss, Celes King III, a legendary bail bondsman and civil rights activist who ran the Celes King Bail Bond agency in South Los Angeles. As Martinez's partner, Harvey embarked on a high-risk career as one of the only female bounty hunters of the time.

Harvey helped captured about 50 fugitives, Martinez said. He remembered 10 of those as "dangerous situations." Their work often took them out of state. He said Harvey took part in an armed stand-off in Texas, among other tense situations. In addition to her shotgun, she carried a 9-millimenter Browning pistol.

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