Key McMartin Case Accuser Found Dead

The mother who started the McMartin Pre-School child molestation case by accusing Raymond Buckey of sexually abusing her 2 1/2-year-old son was found dead in her Manhattan Beach home Friday afternoon, even as a Los Angeles judge was refusing to release Buckey on bail.

The body of Judy Ann Johnson, 42, was discovered about 2:45 p.m. by Manhattan Beach police officers who went to the home in the 3000 block of Vista Drive after being called by neighbors.

Police said there were no visible signs of trauma and that neither the cause nor the time of death were known. Because of her involvement in the sensational McMartin case, in which there had been allegations by defense attorneys that she was mentally unstable and whipped up hysteria among other parents, Los Angeles County sheriff’s homicide officers were asked to take over the investigation.

Sheriff’s Information Bureau Deputy Pete Fosselman said the cause of death will have to be determined by a coroner’s autopsy.

Earlier in the day, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William R. Pounders denied bail to Buckey because of “the repeated testimony of so many of the child victims” that the defendant had threatened them.

“The cold record clearly establishes that there are threats,” Pounders said.

Pounders added that “at this time,” he fears that Buckey might try to carry them out.

Citing both the state Constitution and the “victims’ bill of rights,” Pounders said he was keeping Buckey, 28, in jail in the interest of public safety and because a man facing 80 felony counts and more than 100 years behind bars might have an incentive to flee.

Nevertheless, the judge suggested granting of bail might not be far away. He took note of the Wednesday testimony by Deputy Dist. Atty. Lael Rubin that she had failed for nearly a year to inform defense attorneys of information casting a cloud over Mrs. Johnson’s credibility in her complaints about Buckey.

Rubin testified that she had intended to tell the defense that Mrs. Johnson said her son had also complained of being molested by Los Angeles school board member Roberta Weintraub, among others. But, Rubin said she considered the Weintraub allegation ridiculous and “negligently” let the matter slide.

Johnson testified behind closed doors during the marathon preliminary hearing in the case. At the time, she was also attending hearings in Dependency Court over whether she was a fit mother for her two children because of her mental state.

She was allowed to retain custody on the grounds that her brother would help care for them.

Prosecution attorneys said early in the proceedings that Johnson’s mental problems might have been caused by the strain of the preschool investigation, but the defense said that documents they finally obtained indicated that she was in emotional difficulty much earlier.

The defense contended that it was her continuing allegations and constant telephone calls to other parents that caused the initial hysteria surrounding the case.

‘Noticed Something’

Johnson once told a Times reporter: “I might be crazy, but I listen to my children . . . and I was the one who first noticed something was wrong.”

Buckey, speaking in court for the first time, pleaded for his freedom Friday by asking Pounders to “give me a chance.”

He has spent nearly three years in maximum security in County Jail.

“I am an innocent man,” he said, speaking softly and directly to the judge. “I have never in my life harmed a child, nor could I comprehend how anyone could. I have never in my life threatened a child . . . or harmed or killed an animal.”

Many of the 14 children who testified at the 18-month preliminary hearing described having been sexually abused by Buckey and threatened with harm if they told anyone about it. They testified that he underscored his threats by mutilating and killing rabbits and other animals.

The state Constitution provides that no one can be held without bail unless he is charged with a capital crime or with a felony involving violence and it is likely that his release would result in great bodily harm to others, or unless he is charged with a felony and the judge finds, “based on clear and convincing evidence, that the person has threatened another with great bodily harm and that there is a substantial likelihood that the person would carry out the threat if released.”

Trial Scheduled

But Pounders added that he does not consider the matter closed and that Buckey’s freedom “may be as close as the next turn of the cards” as the case evolves. Trial is set to begin Jan. 12.

Arguing in a downtown courtroom packed with McMartin parents and Buckey’s supporters, defense attorney Daniel G. Davis said the circumstances under which Buckey was originally detained without bail in the spring of 1984 have changed, that the scope and tone of the case is different and that the release of other McMartin defendants did not result in harm to anyone.

In addition, he proposed that Buckey be kept under surveillance by three investigators, to ensure both that he does no wrong and that no false accusations could be made against him.

But Deputy Dist. Atty. Rubin argued that what has changed since evidence was first presented to a county grand jury is that 14 children have testified--and been extensively cross-examined--at a lengthy preliminary hearing. During a combined total of 88 days on the witness stand, she said, they described “45 threats that were made by Ray Buckey to harm them and/or to harm their parents--threats made solely by Raymond Buckey.”

Heard Evidence

She added that the magistrate who heard the evidence found them credible and held Buckey to answer on the charges.

The prosecution said it believes that Buckey is “a great danger to the community and to the children who are the victims” and asked Pounders “to safeguard the community and deny bail to Ray Buckey in its entirety.”

Buckey and his mother, Peggy McMartin Buckey, who has been free since January when friends and relatives posted eight pieces of property in lieu of $500,000 bail, are charged with a total of 101 counts of child molestation and conspiracy involving 14 former students at the Virginia McMartin Pre-School in Manhattan Beach. The district attorney’s office dropped charges against the nursery school’s founder and four teachers there in January, citing insufficient evidence. All seven had been ordered to stand trial.