Update: Tarzana Teacher Pleads Not Guilty to Killing His Estranged Wife

Updated, 2:26 p.m.: Michael Rodney Kane pleaded not guilty to murder, first-degree burglary, assault with a deadly weapon and making criminal threats during his arraignment at the Van Nuys Courthouse Wednesday afternoon.

Kane is a teacher at Nestle Avenue Charter Elementary in Tarzana.

He is due back in court July 9, when a date is scheduled to be set for hearing to determine if there is enough evidence for him to stand trial, according to the District Attorney's Office. Kane, who appeared in court in a wheelchair, was ordered to remain jailed without bail.

He faces up to life in prison if convicted.

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Previous story: A Tarzana school teacher was charged Wednesday with murder and other counts stemming from the weekend stabbing of his estranged wife outside a West Hills home where she had taken refuge.

Michael Rodney Kane, 46, was charged with murder, first-degree burglary, assault with a deadly weapon and making criminal threats, according to the District Attorney's Office. He was scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday afternoon in Van Nuys.

Kane is accused of going to a home in the 7100 block of Deveron Ridge Road around 8 a.m. Saturday, wounding a friend who tried to protect Michelle Kane, then chasing his wife outside and stabbing her multiple times. The 43- year-old woman was pronounced dead at the scene. The couple's two children were inside the home at the time, police said.

Kane was arrested Monday, shortly after his abandoned vehicle was spotted by San Bernardino County sheriff's deputies in the Joshua Tree area, prompting investigators to search the home of one of the suspect's relatives in the area, police said. Kane wasn't at the home, prompting a search of area motels. He was found in one of the rooms after officers kicked down the door, police said.

Kane was suffering from numerous cuts and puncture wounds when he was arrested, so he was taken to a hospital for treatment before being returned to Los Angeles and booked into the Men's Central Jail. He was being held in lieu of more than $1 million bail.

The couple were in the midst of a bitter divorce, and Michelle Kane had obtained a restraining order against her estranged husband. She even went to police the day before she was killed, telling them her estranged husband was violating the order and vandalized the home they once shared.

"We advised Ms. Kane to take all necessary precautions available to her with regard to the restraining order we were able to obtain on her behalf, which she took," Michelle Kane's divorce attorney, Steve Mindel said. "In fact, she went to the police station Friday, twice, and later called again to seek assistance from what she considered an imminent threat to her life and the lives of her children."

The suspect is an elementary teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District. He started as a substitute teacher in the LAUSD in 1997, followed by three permanent teaching assignments, the latest at Nestle Avenue Charter Elementary in Tarzana.

-- City News Service