In the most dramatic courthouse showdown involving real estate fraud, accused murderer and confessed real estate scam artist Pauline Macareno pleaded not guilty to murder and murder conspiracy charges this August stemming from the murder by pillow of 96-year-old Montecito widow Violet Alberts in her Park Lane home in May 2022. Macareno, a real estate flipper from Los Angeles County, is accused of masterminding a murder conspiracy scheme against Alberts 23 days after law enforcement investigators had executed a search warrant on Macareno.