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Suspect vows to help police

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LONG BEACH — A woman who authorities say helped her then-fiance after he allegedly killed two people contended at a press conference Tuesday night that she is “completely innocent.”

Rachel Mae Buffett, 25, addressed the media at her brother’s Long Beach wine bar flanked by her brothers, sister and mother, with her brother Noah hugging her as she spoke. She declared her innocence and vowed to assist Costa Mesa police in their ongoing investigation into the May 2010 killings of two Orange Coast College students.

“I will meet them anywhere, any time,” Buffett said. “I’m very compliant.”

Police and prosecutors have said that Buffett helped her then-fiance Daniel Patrick Wozniak, 28, after he allegedly murdered Samuel Herr, 26, his Camden Martinique neighbor, and Herr’s friend and tutor Juri “Julie” Kibuishi, 23. Authorities allege Buffett lied to police after the murders, telling police Herr had family problems when in fact he did not.

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Authorities said Herr was killed at a Los Alamitos military base and later dismembered, and Kibuishi was reportedly killed at Herr’s apartment, her body positioned in such a way to make authorities believe she was sexually assaulted.

In a previous interview with the Daily Pilot from jail, Buffett described both murder victims as “so sweet” and said she continues to grieve for them.

“I’m really sorry such evil has occurred,” Buffett said.

In addressing the charges facing her former fiance, Buffett said she thinks the punishment he could face is justified.

“I’m glad that I don’t have to do the sentencing because I think personal fear and bitterness would make it lopsided on what I would say he deserves,” Buffett said. “I think that they’re very justified in going for the death penalty.”

lauren.williams@latimes.com

Twitter: @lawilliams30

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