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'Like a war-zone': Witness in Rebecca Grossman murder trial describes scene

Rebecca Grossman is on trial for murder in connection to the deaths of Mark and Jacob Iskander in 2020
Caroline Feraday
/
KCLU
Rebecca Grossman is on trial for murder in connection to the deaths of Mark and Jacob Iskander in 2020

An eye-witness, who is a school-friend of the socialite's daughter, told the court that the Westlake Village crash scene, which left two young boys dead, was chaotic.

The trial of the socialite accused of killing two boys as they used a crosswalk in Westlake Village in 2020 is nearing the end of its defense arguments.

Rebecca Grossman is charged with the murders of Mark and Jacob Iskander and is on trial at Los Angeles Superior Court.

Rebecca Grossman’s defense team have spent much of this week with toxicology experts. On Thursday, the jury heard from Dorsa Khoedami, a school friend of her daughter, Alexis, who had been playing tennis nearby when she heard the accident.

Khoedami said that she was with her mother, who described the aftermath as like a “war zone.”

She said when she arrived at the scene, she had picked up a pair of shoes from the road and given them to Nancy Iskander. Khoedami told the jury that Nancy started screaming and told her, "Those are my son's shoes."

The jury also heard from William Broadhead, an expert in airbags and vehicle restraints for the defense.

He told the jury that a driver wouldn’t have been able distinguish an airbag deployment from a pedestrian strike, because they are “violent, loud and stun you.”

Broadhead said that the airbags shouldn't go off during a pedestrian strike, during a detailed discussion about car airbags and restraints.

Grossman claims to have been bruised by the airbags, and showed pictures to the court of bruises which were taken by her husband Peter, on October 1 2020.

Prosecutor Jamie Castro showed the court text messages from Rebecca Grossman's phone complaining to her massage therapist on September 19, 2020 of bruising to her arms, caused by the massage.

Prosecutors say she was driving at “freeway speeds” when she struck and killed Mark and Jacob Iskander as they used the marked crosswalk in Westlake Village on September 29, 2020. They were 8 and 11 years old at the time.

Grossman is charged with two counts of murder, two counts of gross vehicular manslaughter and hit and run causing death. She denies the charges.

Caroline joined KCLU in October 2020. She won LA Press Club's Audio Journalist of the Year Award in 2022, 2023 and 2024.

Since joining the station she's won 10 Golden Mike Awards, 6 Los Angeles Press Club Awards, 2 National Arts & Entertainment Awards and a Regional Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Writing.

She started her broadcasting career in the UK, in both radio and television for BBC News, 95.8 Capital FM and Sky News and was awarded the Prince Philip Medal for her services to radio and journalism in 2007.

She has lived in California for eleven years and is both an American and British citizen - and a very proud mom to her daughter, Elsie.