Warrant Is Issued for Man Suspected in Slaying of Girl, 7

An arrest warrant was issued Wednesday for an Alhambra man wanted for questioning in the sex-slaying of 7-year-old Phoebe Ho of South Pasadena, whose strangled body was found in a Riverside County field in December.

The suspect, Warren James Bland, 51, has spent 21 of his last 26 years in prison for violent attacks on women and children, court records show.

A probation report was written in 1977 after Bland was convicted of sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl. It said Bland had “apparently graduated from raping women to children.”

Riverside County sheriff’s deputies questioned Bland about the slaying Jan. 3, but released him for lack of evidence. Subsequently, deputies obtained a search warrant and found carpet fibers in the van of Bland’s employer and one carpet fiber from a vehicle believed to be Bland’s matching those found on Phoebe’s clothing.

All state law enforcement agencies were alerted to arrest Bland, described as armed and dangerous, after the warrant was issued in Riverside County Superior Court.

Phoebe disappeared Dec. 11 while walking to school in South Pasadena. Her fully clothed body was found a week later in a Glen Avon field. An autopsy revealed that she had been sexually molested.

Bland was described as six feet tall with brown hair and blue eyes and reportedly was last living in the Alhambra area, but “has fled” from his home, sheriff’s spokesman Al Dixon said.

A parole agent quoted in the 1977 report called Bland a Dr. Jekyll-Mr. Hyde personality who “is extremely mild and unassuming until for some reason he becomes violent.” The report said Bland refused to recognize his criminal history and “it would appear the defendant cannot admit to himself his violent nature and therefore cannot deal with it in any type of effective manner.”