Rebecca Grossman’s tearful teen daughter told the wealthy socialite’s murder trial on Friday how she saw her mother’s lover, Scott Erickson, hiding behind a tree, watching Grossman talking to cops after the horrific crash that killed two young brothers.
And she recounted how Erickson later burst into her home, smelling of booze, yelling ‘Why did your mom stop?’ and threatened to ‘ruin me and my family’ if she told anyone about seeing him near the accident scene.
Alexis Grossman – who was 16 at the time of the tragedy – told the court that she was driving to pick up a pizza when she spotted police lights flashing and saw her mother, near her white Mercedes SUV, being questioned by police.
‘I pulled over and ran toward her screaming ‘mommy, mommy. But the police told me I couldn’t talk to my mom and told me to go home.’
Rebecca Grossman’s tearful teen daughter, Alexis seen far right, told the wealthy socialist’s murder trial on Friday how she saw her mother’s lover, Scott Erickson, hiding behind a tree, watching Grossman talking to cops after the horrific crash that killed two young brothers. Pictured, Rebecca Grossman, center, with her husband, Dr. Peter Grossman, left,
Alexis described Erickson, pictured in 2018, bursting into their home smelling of drink questioning why her mom stopped, and threatening to harm her family if she spoke about it.
Grossman, pictured at Van Nuys Court earlier this week, has pleaded not guilty to all charges
Alexis, now 19 and a sophomore at Clemson University, said she went back to her car and it was then she turned and ‘I saw Scott Erickson. He was behind a tree in the bushes and he was poking his head out and we made eye contact.’
She told lead defense attorney Tony Buzbee that she didn’t see Erickson’s black Mercedes SUV and didn’t speak to him because, ‘I was so surprised to see my mom surrounded by police. I was freaking out, having a panic attack.’
She drove the short distance back to her mom’s Westlake Village home, where shortly after she got there, ‘The front door burst open and Scott Erickson walked in and said, ‘Why did your mom stop? Why did your mom stop?’
‘He seemed very angry. He was frantic. I could smell alcohol on him. He was freaking out. I was scared.
‘He yelled ‘Don’t say anything. Don’t tell anyone you saw me or I will ruin you and your family.’
‘He’s a big guy. He’s this baseball player and he was scary,’ added Alexis of Erickson, a former pro pitcher who is 6ft 4 and 240 pounds.
Erickson played with the Los Angeles Dodgers from 2005 for a year, then ended his career with the New York Yankees in 2006
Grossman’s white Mercedes SUV is pictured moments after the crash
Grossman, 60, is charged with two counts of second-degree murder in the tragic deaths of Jacob, 8, and Mark Iskander,11, at a marked pedestrian crosswalk in September 2020
‘I was scared he might do something to hurt me or my family from what he said.’
Alexis – wearing a black minidress and a dark sweater, with her blonde hair tied back – cried as she told Deputy District Attorney Ryan Gould, cross examining – that she loved her mother and would help her ‘In any way I can.’
Asked by DDA Gould if she had told police about seeing Erickson that night when she was later interviewed, she said, ‘No, but I wish I had.’
She didn’t even tell her father, Peter Grossman, about seeing Erickson, when she called him later the night of the accident.
‘I didn’t tell him about Scott – I called him to tell him mom had been in an accident.’
Asked why she didn’t tell her dad about seeing Erickson, she said, ‘He (Erickson) was ranting. He was angry. He was yelling, ‘Why did your mom stop?’
‘He said, ‘Don’t tell anyone you saw me. If you do I will f—ing ruin you and your family.’ It was the worst moment of my life.’
Alexis said she eventually told her parents about seeing Erickson that night and when she told their original lawyer in the case, ‘He said, ‘don’t tell anyone. They got the wrong guy,’ and he told her not to ‘interject herself into this’.
Mark (left) and Jacob (right) Iskander, 11 and 8 respectively, were killed in the horrific crash on September 29, 2020
Mark Iskander, 11, and his younger brother Jacob, eight, were killed in the crash in 2020
That lawyer died and Grossman hired Buzbee and his team from Houston, Texas to represent her.
DDA Gould interviewed Alexis in July 2021 – 10 months after the crash – and he said to her in court Friday, ‘You never once told me about Scott Erickson hiding in the bushes or behind a tree? ‘No’, she agreed.
‘Or that he came back to the house that night,’ he added. ‘No,’ she said.
She also admitted that during the interview, she told DDA Gould that Erickson had not come back to the house and that their ‘paths had not crossed that night.’
Alexis conceded that through numerous court appearances by her mother – including a preliminary hearing in May 2022 – she didn’t tell prosecutors that she had seen Erickson the night of the collision.
And she agreed that it wasn’t till the trial started that prosecutors learned about her encounters with Erickson.
When DDA Gould asked her if her mother and Erickson had ‘stayed together for some time’ after the collision that killed the Iskander boys, Alexis replied, ‘I don’t believe so.’
As a result of the fatal crosswalk crash Erickson was charged with misdemeanor reckless driving. But his case was resolved in February 2022 with a judge ordering him to make a public service announcement for high school students about the importance of safe driving.
During his 15-year pro career, Erickson – now 56 – was a star pitcher at the Minnesota Twins – with whom he won a World Series in 1991 – the Baltimore Orioles, the New York Mets and the Texas Rangers.
He spent a year playing with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2005, and ended his career with the New York Yankees in 2006.
Mark Iskander, 11, and his younger brother Jacob, eight, were killed in the crash in 2020
Nancy and Karim Iskander, the boys’ parents, are shown leaving court earlier this month. Nancy was crossing the road with the brothers when they were hit
Long Beach, California-born Erickson was married for 17 years to actress turned TV sportscaster and reporter Lisa Guerrero, now 59, with whom he lived in LA. They divorced in 2021 and had no children together.
A cheerleader for the Los Angeles Rams in the ’80s, Guerrero starred in the Aaron Spelling ’90s TV series Sunset Beach and guest-starred in numerous shows including Frasier, Cybill and In the Heat of the Night.
She changed careers to sportscasting and co-hosted The Best Damn Sports Show Period – which lead to a January 2006 Playboy Magazine cover labeled, The Best Damn Sports Beauty.
After a stint as a sideline reporter on Monday Night Football that only lasted a year, in 2006 she landed a job as a correspondent on TV’s Inside Edition where she later became chief investigative reporter.
In 2007, Guerrero and her then-husband Erickson – who had just retired from baseball – financed and co-executive produced the movie A Plumm Summer in which she also starred alongside Jeff Daniels, Billy Baldwin and Henry Winkler.