Cooper Murder Trial : Massacre Survivor’s Description of Killers Outlined

Two witnesses at the Kevin Cooper murder trial testified Tuesday that Joshua Ryen, the only survivor of the Chino Hills massacre, told them that three white men visited his house on the morning that his family and a friend were hacked and stabbed to death.

Cooper, a former mental patient accused in the killings, is black.

The bodies of Doug and Peg Ryen, both 41; their daughter, Jessica, 10, and Christopher Hughes, 11, were found in the Ryen home on June 5, 1983. Joshua Ryen, then 9, survived a slashed throat and a beating on the head with an ax.

Using a Chart

Donald Gamundoy, a clinical social worker at Loma Linda University Hospital, said that, soon after the attack, Joshua pointed at words and numbers on a chart to tell him that three white men were in the house at the time of the attacks. Gamundoy said he interviewed the boy in the emergency room on the afternoon of June 5, when the boy was flown by helicopter to the hospital.

“I asked him how many people there were. He pointed to three. I asked him if they were male. He pointed to ‘yes.’ I asked him if they were black. He pointed to ‘no,’ ” Gamundoy said.

The social worker said that Joshua pointed to “yes” when asked if the people were white. Gamundoy added that Joshua said he had seen the men before, but did not know them.

San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Deputy Ervin Dale Sharp testified next that he interviewed the boy twice on June 5, 1983. Sharp said the first interview took place in the emergency room and lasted about 15 minutes.

In that interview, Joshua said three white men were in the house when the killings occurred, Sharp testified. But in a subsequent interview an hour later, the boy identified the three men as Hispanic. Sharp also testified that the youth told him the attack on his family took place between 4 and 5 a.m. on June 5.

“The victim first advised me that there were three white male adults in the residence and he had been asleep . . . the victim did not know who the three male suspects were,” said Sharp. But under questioning by defense attorney David Negus, Sharp said that he did not ask the boy if the three white men had attacked him.

In the second interview, which occurred in another hospital room and lasted 45 minutes, Sharp said the boy told him that three Hispanics, each between 18 and 20 years and possibly driving a “low rider” Chevrolet Impala, had been at his house on June 4.

“I asked him if these were the people who were in his house this morning when everything went crazy,” said Sharp. The deputy testified that Joshua answered “yes.” Sharp said the boy would answer “yes” by squeezing his hand and “no” by not squeezing.