Amber Willard
LA CRESCENTA -- As friends and families mourned the deaths of two
teens at Valley View Elementary School, a 15-year-old La Crescenta boy
was being held at Eastlake Juvenile Detention Center on suspicion of the
slayings.
The boy may be charged with murder in connection with the deaths as
soon as this afternoon, police said. Police are looking for more
suspects.
The boy, whose name was not released, was arrested at his La Crescenta
home about 7:30 Monday night on suspicion of the beating deaths of Blaine
Steven Talmo, 14, of Glendale and Christopher Reid McCulloch, 13, of La
Canada Flintridge. The suspect was an acquaintance of the teens, but
police would not elaborate on their relationship.
The bodies were found shortly after 8 p.m. Sunday by a neighbor to
Valley View Elementary School at 4900 Maryland Ave.
"The investigation is still ongoing. It is quite possible that we will
focus on at least one more person," Glendale Police spokesman Chahe
Keuroghelian said. More than 20 officers are investigating the case.
Christopher's mother, who moved with her son from Scotland when he was
6, had reported him missing to the L.A. Sheriff's Department. She told
deputies she last saw her son Friday morning and thought he might have
run away because he was due in court Monday on a misdemeanor marijuana
possession charge. She told police her son had run away before, but never
for more than a day at a time.
No one answered calls to the family's home Tuesday.
When asked if the deaths stemmed from drug or monetary disputes,
Keuroghelian said neither has been ruled out.
A handful of Blaine's classmates said they saw the boys in a La
Crescenta park early Saturday afternoon, sleeping on a piece of carpeting
under a tree.
"They told the girls that they had been at a party the night before
and they stayed up until 6 in the morning, and were wandering around
after that," said Vanessa Calvillo, whose daughter Ashley talked to the
boys in the park.
Other friends said they had heard the boys had gone to the school
playground to fight members of a La Crescenta gang who owed Christopher
$100. Other youths at the makeshift memorial in front of the chain-link
fence surrounding the campus said nighttime fights had occurred there.
"If Chris hadn't gotten into any of that, this wouldn't have
happened," said 14-year-old Talya Bershtel, who went to Rosemont Middle
School with the boys and often spent time with them.
As news of the playground killings filtered through the hillside
