ake County authorities have arrested a 31-year-old man on suspicion of stabbing to death a 10-year-old girl and wounding a 13-year-old girl in the gated community of Hidden Valley Lake on Friday.
Clean Crawlspace
James Ronald Pagan was apprehended at his home shortly after the assault on nearby Firethorn Road, where Saturday a makeshift memorial was placed near investigators' orange spray paint marks and what appeared to be dried blood.
Officials have not released the names of the girls, but neighbors said Saturday they were sisters.
A woman who briefly answered questions at the door of the well-kept, one-story house where Pagan lived identified herself as his mother and replied with a "yes" when asked if her son had mental health issues.
Investigators recovered a kitchen knife on Firethorn Road near the crime scene and about a half-block from where the girls lived. Authorities have not confirmed the knife was the weapon used, and the motive for the attacks also remained unclear Saturday, said Richard Hinchcliff, deputy district attorney for Lake County.
Witnesses identified Pagan shortly after the attacks as the assailant and said he had fled to his home on Sugarbush Court, just around the corner and down a cul-de-sac from Firethorn Road.
The first reports that a 10-year-old girl had been stabbed with a knife came at about 4:30 p.m., and sheriff's deputies and rescue personnel from the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection responded to Firethorn Road.
When medics arrived, they immediately treated the 10-year-old and discovered that another girl had also been stabbed.
The younger girl was taken to Redbud Adventist Hospital in Clearlake, where she later died of her injuries, said James Bauman, Lake County chief deputy sheriff. The 13-year-old victim was flown to Children's Hospital in Oakland for treatment.
Pagan was booked on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon. He is being held at Lake County Jail on $1 million bail.
Officials would not comment on the circumstances surrounding the stabbings. Bauman said no further information will be released until Monday.
Residents of Hidden Valley Lake were stunned by the violence in their quiet rural community, a subdivision carved out of the hillsides along Highway 29 midway between Middletown and Lower Lake.
As news of the stabbings spread, a small memorial began to grow on Firethorn Road near Tigerwood Court.
Neighbors placed a 4-foot-tall white cross, flowers, a baby doll and two stuffed bunnies at the site. As the day passed, a smaller cross and helium balloon shaped like the sun were added.
The 10-year-old girl was described as playful and pleasant.
"She was happy and very, very cute," said Armida Martin, who lives down the street and whose children played with the two girls.
Martin's daughter, Marilyn, said she heard screeching tires and a scream Friday afternoon at about the time of the attacks.
"It's horrible," Marilyn Martin said.
Lyle LaFaver, a neighbor who lives next door to Pagan, was reluctant to talk about the suspect. LaFaver said he knew the little girls and that they would come around to admire his dogs.
"They were both very nice," LaFaver said.
He said the violence has cast a shadow on an area he described as "paradise."
His home and the suspect's abut a common area with hiking trails, woods and hills populated by coyotes, deer and wild turkeys.
LaFaver, a retired PG&E employee, said he also feels bad for the parents of the suspect. He said that in the seven years that he's lived in the neighborhood, the community has had its share of burglaries and vandalisms, but nothing as violent as Friday's stabbings.
"It absolutely shocked us," he said.
"It's incomprehensible to me," said Angela Birk, another area resident.
News researcher Vonnie Matthews contributed to this report. You can reach Staff Writer Glenda Anderson at 462-6473 or glenda.anderson@
pressdemocrat.com.
Clean Crawlspace
James Ronald Pagan was apprehended at his home shortly after the assault on nearby Firethorn Road, where Saturday a makeshift memorial was placed near investigators' orange spray paint marks and what appeared to be dried blood.
Officials have not released the names of the girls, but neighbors said Saturday they were sisters.
A woman who briefly answered questions at the door of the well-kept, one-story house where Pagan lived identified herself as his mother and replied with a "yes" when asked if her son had mental health issues.
Investigators recovered a kitchen knife on Firethorn Road near the crime scene and about a half-block from where the girls lived. Authorities have not confirmed the knife was the weapon used, and the motive for the attacks also remained unclear Saturday, said Richard Hinchcliff, deputy district attorney for Lake County.
Witnesses identified Pagan shortly after the attacks as the assailant and said he had fled to his home on Sugarbush Court, just around the corner and down a cul-de-sac from Firethorn Road.
The first reports that a 10-year-old girl had been stabbed with a knife came at about 4:30 p.m., and sheriff's deputies and rescue personnel from the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection responded to Firethorn Road.
When medics arrived, they immediately treated the 10-year-old and discovered that another girl had also been stabbed.
The younger girl was taken to Redbud Adventist Hospital in Clearlake, where she later died of her injuries, said James Bauman, Lake County chief deputy sheriff. The 13-year-old victim was flown to Children's Hospital in Oakland for treatment.
Pagan was booked on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon. He is being held at Lake County Jail on $1 million bail.
Officials would not comment on the circumstances surrounding the stabbings. Bauman said no further information will be released until Monday.
Residents of Hidden Valley Lake were stunned by the violence in their quiet rural community, a subdivision carved out of the hillsides along Highway 29 midway between Middletown and Lower Lake.
As news of the stabbings spread, a small memorial began to grow on Firethorn Road near Tigerwood Court.
Neighbors placed a 4-foot-tall white cross, flowers, a baby doll and two stuffed bunnies at the site. As the day passed, a smaller cross and helium balloon shaped like the sun were added.
The 10-year-old girl was described as playful and pleasant.
"She was happy and very, very cute," said Armida Martin, who lives down the street and whose children played with the two girls.
Martin's daughter, Marilyn, said she heard screeching tires and a scream Friday afternoon at about the time of the attacks.
"It's horrible," Marilyn Martin said.
Lyle LaFaver, a neighbor who lives next door to Pagan, was reluctant to talk about the suspect. LaFaver said he knew the little girls and that they would come around to admire his dogs.
"They were both very nice," LaFaver said.
He said the violence has cast a shadow on an area he described as "paradise."
His home and the suspect's abut a common area with hiking trails, woods and hills populated by coyotes, deer and wild turkeys.
LaFaver, a retired PG&E employee, said he also feels bad for the parents of the suspect. He said that in the seven years that he's lived in the neighborhood, the community has had its share of burglaries and vandalisms, but nothing as violent as Friday's stabbings.
"It absolutely shocked us," he said.
"It's incomprehensible to me," said Angela Birk, another area resident.
News researcher Vonnie Matthews contributed to this report. You can reach Staff Writer Glenda Anderson at 462-6473 or glenda.anderson@
pressdemocrat.com.
