U.S. and Mexican authorities are cooperating in an effort to learn who, if anyone, might have assisted convicted rapist and cosmetics heir Andrew Luster during the five months he spent on the run before being arrested in Puerto Vallarta last week.

Of particular interest is the personal property Luster left in a hotel in the resort town, including a journal with the names of the three women Luster was convicted of raping -- listed under the heading "PAYBACK" -- and the names of investigators and prosecutors.

The journal also includes references to other individuals, some of whom might have helped Luster during his flight, and to ongoing financial deals.

To get the material, however, American investigators have to go through Mexican authorities, under provisions of the U.S.-Mexican Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty.

"The FBI does not have any law enforcement authority in Mexico," Agent Robert Mack, who runs the FBI's Ventura office, said Tuesday. "We can't go knock on a door and seize personal property. We have to abide by the laws we have in the U.S. and the laws in a foreign country."

In January, Luster, a 39-year-old great-grandson of cosmetics king Max Factor, was convicted in absentia on 86 criminal counts for the rapes of three women inside his home in Mussel Shoals, north of Ventura.

A Ventura County jury found Luster had drugged all three women and videotaped two of the rapes of the unconscious women. He was sentenced to 124 years in state prison.

He had fled house arrest weeks before the verdict, jumping $1 million bail, but was taken into custody by Mexican police after being captured by American bounty hunters.

His defense attorney, Roger Diamond, has petitioned both the state Court of Appeal and the California Supreme Court to reconsider Luster's case.

The state Attorney General's Office has said Luster lost his right to an appeal when he fled.

"We're covering all of our bases, essentially," Diamond said Tuesday. "We are not fighting over the merits of the appeal, but only if he has the right to appeal."

If either court finds that Luster has a right to appeal, the case could take the rest of the year to litigate, attorneys said.

Diamond has yet to speak with his client, who is in custody at Wasco State Prison near Bakersfield. Another defense attorney has spoken with Luster, however, Diamond said.

"He was very grateful that I had filed the notice of appeal, because if it had not been done, he'd have no chance at all," Diamond said.

The contents of the property Luster left in Mexico will have no bearing on his appeals, Diamond said.

"The whole thing about the notebook is legally irrelevant to the criminal case," Diamond said. "I guess Luster may have a right to a civil suit against the people who took it, (but) I'm concentrating solely on the appeal."

Luster's property, including clothing, two surfboards and a video camera, were in the motel room he had rented in Puerto Vallarta. The hotel manager allowed a reporter and photographer from the Ventura County Star to view the room the day after Luster was picked up on the street by the bounty hunter.

By Saturday, the motel manager said no Mexican or American authorities had inquired about the belongings and they were moved to a basement storage area. The manager took reporters and photographers, including representatives of CBS, NBC and the Ventura County Star, to the storage area to show them the belongings.

The Star noticed a spiral-bound notebook in a duffel bag full of Luster's clothing and other belongings and asked the manager for permission to look at the notebook. He allowed The Star and NBC to look at the 13-page journal. The reporters then returned it to the manager.

On Sunday, the day The Star was the first to report the contents of the journal, including the "payback" list, the manager told The Associated Press the reporters had taken the journal out of the trash in Luster's room and that the motel staff later threw it away.

The FBI's resident agents in Mexico -- called legal attaches -- must go through the U.S. Justice and State departments and the Mexican federal authorities to invoke the provisions of the mutual assistance treaty, officials said.

Even then, the local Mexican authorities -- in the city of Puerto Vallarta or the state of Jalisco, in the Luster case -- need to go to a Mexican jurist for a warrant.

"Once it is in their hands, we would expect the Mexican authorities will allow FBI agents to review it," Mack said.

If the property has been destroyed, the FBI would try to get to anyone who aided Luster through other means.

"It would be a very nice thing to have, if it still does exist," Mack said. "But we can probably work around it, just by following the paper trail."