Amber Willard
LA CRESCENTA -- Early morning dog-walkers and parents dropping their
children off for day care Monday were greeted by police cars and media
vans on Maryland Avenue, a change from the quiet routine along the
residential hillside street.
As darkness fell Sunday, the bodies of two local boys -- Blaine S.
Talmo, 14, and Christopher R. McCulloch, 13 -- were found on the
northeast playground at Valley View Elementary School. Blaine, the son of
a L.A. County Sheriff's Department employee, had recently moved to La
Canada Flintridge. Christopher had been reported missing from his
Glendale home that day.
The boys, who had just finished eighth grade at Rosemont Middle
School, were brutally beaten, according to preliminary reports. No weapon
was found at the scene.
By Monday evening, Glendale Police had few answers for neighbors and
parents who showed up that morning expecting to drop their children off
for day care at the school, which has a fenced campus.
"We have no witnesses, no suspects," police spokesman Chahe
Keuroghelian said, standing in front of yellow police tape that cordoned
off the campus of white and blue buildings sheltered by trees.
Officials were quick to say they do not believe the attack was a
random act of violence.
"There is not a child killer on the loose," Keuroghelian said.
Officials would not say why they believe the boys, who suffered blows
to their heads, torsos and legs, were targeted.
Police said the boys were found shortly after 8 p.m. Sunday -- within
24 hours of their deaths -- by neighbor Frank Hoogenhuizen, who saw them
from his backyard.
"It was a pretty violent crime scene," police Agent Rodney S. Brooks
said. "As the sun came out, we found more blood evidence."
The bodies were on the red rubber mat supporting playground equipment,
less than 15 feet from neighbors' backyards. Police crews worked all day
Monday to clean the scene, which included cutting away part of the
blood-soaked mat and washing blood from a green slide. The playground
equipment will be removed after the investigation is over, officials
said.
More blood was found near a water fountain about 100 feet from the
attack.
"It looks like whoever did this tried to wash some of the blood off in
the drinking fountain," said Vic Pallos, Glendale United School District
spokesman.
Neighbors said the weekend had not seemed out of the ordinary in their
quiet community of green lawns and well-maintained landscaping. No one
interviewed said they heard any sounds of an attack.
Alex Athans, who lives down the street from the school, said he saw
something suspicious in front of his house between 11:30 p.m. Friday and
12:30 a.m. Saturday.
He said a white car carrying four teens parked in front of his house,
then drove around the block several times with its headlights off.
Athans said that after making a half-dozen passes around the block,
the car pulled up next to a black car parked in front of the entrance to
Valley View, and two kids got into the black car and drove away. "Both
cars took off with just their parking lights on," Athans said.
*
TIM WILLERT contributed to this article.
YOU CAN HELP
If you have any information about the slayings of Christopher
McCulloch and Blaine Talmo, call the Glendale Police Homicide Detail at
548-3987 or Glendale Crime Stoppers at 507-7867.
