"Big Mac" Murder Case Timeline

1981 David "English Dave" Amos meets Mike Woods in the U.S. via Dave Smith and was allowed to work as a bouncer at J.R.'s Place, which was owned by ex-CHP Michael "Mike" Woods and Horace "Big Mac" McKenna. 1983? Amos meets customer John "Chokemaster" Sheridan at J.R.'s Place. 1984? J.R.'s Place goes belly up. 1985 David Amos becomes "front man" for Bare Elegance, Jet Strip and Odd Ball. June 1986 Mike Woods and John Radtke allegedly threatens Edward Butker, owner of Harvey's, and tells Butker that his family will be killed if he doesn't sell the club. June 1988 The Department of Fish and Game seize two spider monkeys, a black leopard and a tiger at the property of Horace McKenna because they were being kept illegally. January 1989 Angie Null, who works for McKenna taking care of his horses, is told by McKenna that he thinks Woods is cheating him and overhears phone conversations between McKenna and Woods in which McKenna is angry and threatens Woods. January 1989 According to Amos, Woods tells Amos that McKenna is "messed up" on drugs and acting erratically. Eventually, Woods approaches Amos to have McKenna killed because Woods claims McKenna threatened Woods' daughters and brought heat from cops. Later, Woods allegedly agrees to pay Amos $50,000 for the hit. Amos stalls when he can't find a hit-man but eventually gets $25,000 but ends up spending most of it. Amos gets Sheridan to do the hit. Sheridan agrees to get paid after the hit. Woods offers Amos 25% of clubs for the hit. February 1989 Sheridan visits McKenna's ranch to scope out property and layout. March 9, 1989 Horace McKenna is shot and murdered by Sheridan in limo as McKenna returns home to Brea, Orange County, after midnight. Bob Berg, the limo driver, was out of the car to open the gate and runs from the scene and is not harmed. Approximately 20 rounds were fired from an automatic weapon into the limo. March 10, 1989 11:00am Amos meets Woods to talk about the hit. 1989 Amos becomes 40% part owner of all of Woods' clubs. October 1989 - December 1991 John Sheridan is busted and incarcerated on drug charges. 1993 Bare Elegance is expanded with major renovations. 1995 Mike Woods fronts the money for a movie with Amos called "The Takeover" about a bloody takeover of strip clubs. 1997 Unsolved McKenna case re-opened by investigators. 1997 Amos becomes concerned when people are re-questioned by investigators regarding McKenna case. Woods also becomes concerned. July 16, 1998 Edward Butker, owner of the Bucket and Harvey's, with his father, was interviewed by investigators Stewart and Morton at the Tustin Black Angus. In the interview Butker thinks Woods is the mastermind and had other people killed and a dead body was found at the Wild Goose. Butker claims Woods visited him at Harvey's with a gun and told him "We're taking over, you're out." and later put a $20,000 contract on Butker. Butker claims that the only club that his father owned on paper was "Arches", later renamed Odd Ball. Butker claims the contract on McKenna was $50,000. He talked to the limo driver, Bob Berg, who denied any involvement. Butker also told investigators that McKenna owned the Star Strip, and not Harry Alenik and Don Tucker. August 6, 1998 Lance Berg is interviwed by investigator R. Morton in which Berg claims to have worked at the Odd Ball and Aprils as a DJ and worked for Gene Lombardi and Carl Salvati. Berg claims a dancer named Andrea Horvath who worked at Jet and Odd Ball would visit McKenna at the ranch and had heard she was scared and "got involved with something over her head." Berg also knew the limo driver, Bob Berg (not related), who managed Aprils but did not know of any involvement in the hit. 1998 Sheridan becomes increasingly disgruntle and becomes "manager" of Venus which was owned by Woods at one time. January 5, 1999 Venus' ZCon party is attended by Z Posse members including a ZChatter named "Silky" who is actually an Assistant D.A. posing as a dancer to get information from host Sheridan. 1999 Woods allegedly tells Amos that Sheridan is a liability and should be killed. 2000 Amos becomes 50% partner of all clubs. January 2000 Johnny Sheridan turns himself in to Orange County D.A. and makes a confession. Sheridan agrees to return to work wearing a body wire to gather evidence on the McKenna case for the OC D.A. July 24, 2000 Bishop's coming out of hiatus party takes place at the Jet Strip. Host Sheridan wears a body wire during the entire ZCon but mostly stays in the office. August 8, 2000 Investigator R. Morton interviews Stephen Bach who tells the investigator that Dave Smith told him that Woods approached him to kill McKenna. Bach claims he told McKenna about this incident before he was murdered. September 27, 2000 Investigator R. Morton interviews Michael McKenna (son of victim) who tells investigator that after the murder of his father, Woods told him to stay away from the clubs and allegedly made a threat to his life. 2000 After talking to wired Sheridan about paying him more money, Amos takes $10,000 from the club and gives $3,000 to Sheridan as another payment for the hit. Amos keeps $7,000 as payment by Sheridan to Amos for a van purchased by Sheridan. Investigators claim that they decided to allow Sheridan to keep the money to prevent his cover from being blown. October 9, 2000 5:59pm Mike Woods arrives at Jet Strip to meet and talk to Sheridan who is wearing a body wire. Sheridan tells Woods he knows the cops are talking to his neighbors and wants to interview Sheridan as well. Woods tells Sheridan to keep his mouth shut. October 26, 2000 Amos and Sheridan are arrested. Amos calls his attorney Richard Kaplan. October 27, 2000 Bare Elegance, Jet Strip and Valley Ball, as well as the homes of Amos and Woods are served with search warrants. The clubs are closed down for the day while evidence is collected. October 27, 2000 7:30am Amos is made to listen to wired conversation tapes between himself and triggerman Sheridan during his last payoff. Sheridan talks to Amos about turning in Woods. Amos decides to cooperate with the authorities. Investigators R. Morton, D. Kennedy and T. Stewart are present along with his attorney during negotiations to have Amos wear a body wire. October 27, 2000 10:59am Amos contacts Woods and Woods agrees to meet him at Jerry's Deli in Woodland Hills. October 27, 2000 11:34am Amos cooperates with authorities and wears a body wire and will meet with Woods at the restaurant to talk about the searches and hit. October 27, 2000 12:22pm Woods arrives at the restaurant. Woods is not sure what the searches are for. While wearing a body wire, Amos and Woods discuss the problems with Sheridan wanting more money for a driver and the murder weapon. Read the entire wired conversation transcripts. October 27, 2000 1:08pm Police, wire technicians and Assistant D.A. listen to Amos' body wired conversation between Amos and Woods and makes a determination to arrest Woods at the restaurant. Amos and Woods are both arrested and placed in the same vehicle. Amos' body wire is left on. October 27, 2000 1:37pm Woods is placed in a separate vehicle for transportation to booking. Amos' body wire is turned off. October 28, 2000 Attorney Richard Hirsch confirms to media that he is representing Mike Woods in McKenna murder case. October 30, 2000 Police and D.A.'s office makes a press release and public statements regarding the arrests. October 31, 2000 During Mike Woods' arraignment, Woods' attorney asks for bail, but the request is denied by the judge. 2001 Investigators report that they found $1M in cash allegedly belonging to Woods, and $16M in allegedly unreported income. June 2001 Preliminary hearing for Amos and Sheridan. July 30, 2001 Mike Woods' case is scheduled to start. As of June, Woods' attorney is ready to proceed and not "continue" (delay) the case. August 3, 2001 Amos and Sheridan's case scheduled to start.