$25,000 Reward Is Offered as Investigation Into Killing of Agoura Boy, 6, Falters

A $25,000 reward for information leading to the killer of a 6-year-old Agoura boy was offered Thursday as sheriff’s deputies conceded that they have run out of clues in the slaying.

The stabbed body of first-grader Miguel Antero was found April 8, a few hundred feet from his home at a Triunfo Canyon religious retreat, 7 1/2 hours after he stepped from a school bus.

The reward will come from donations from members of the Vedantic Center Shanti Anatam retreat and residents of the Agoura-Westlake Village area, along with an expected contribution from Los Angeles County, officials of the center said.

Will Seek $20,000 Contribution

A spokesman for Supervisor Mike Antonovich said the 5th District supervisor will call for approval of a $20,000 contribution to the reward at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting.

Leaders of the Vedantic Center said enough private pledges have been received to guarantee that the reward will be at least $25,000, even if supervisors do not approve Antonovich’s recommendation.

The cash incentive for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killer or killers was applauded by sheriff’s homicide investigators. They said they have worked 16-hour shifts on the case, with only one day off, since the slaying.

‘Nothing Solid’

“We have nothing solid at this point,” Detective Jack Fueglein said. “We can’t say whether this was done by a transient or a local person. We appreciate any assistance we get.” Fueglein said he and Sgt. John Laurie are interviewing everyone who lives or works in Triunfo Canyon, a mile-long valley about 15 miles west of the San Fernando Valley that is next to Westlake Village and Agoura Hills

“When you’re in that canyon it looks isolated. But, from the air, it isn’t,” Fueglein said.

“We’ve eliminated a lot of suspicions that were generated by the community out there. We’ve checked out a lot of different people.”

Jim Iamurri, an aide to Antonovich, said the supervisor delayed taking the reward before the board at the request of investigators.

48-Acre Compound

Brahma Johnson, a spokesman for the Vedantic Center, said Antonovich’s reward proposal “shows the seriousness of this case.”

Johnson said the 35 members of the center, who live in cottages scattered on a 48-acre compound that spans Triunfo Creek, plan to fence their property and press for street lighting along their lightly traveled section of Triunfo Canyon Road.

The center was founded 11 years ago by Alice Coltrane, widow of jazz musician John Coltrane. Its members follow the teachings of Eastern philosophers and draw upon Vedantic scripture, the Bible and Islamic and Buddhist texts.