Elderly North County Flower Industry Pioneer Is Held Hostage

Paul Ecke Sr., a flower industry pioneer, was held hostage in his Encinitas home early Tuesday, allegedly by a relative who drove his car through the front gate, entered the residence and handcuffed the elderly man to a chair, authorities said.

The 93-year-old Ecke suffered minor bruises before being rescued by sheriff’s deputies. He was treated by his personal nurse, and was described in “good condition” by family spokesman John Bjornstad.

Ecke’s grand-nephew, Barry Jackson Lewis, 45, of Encinitas, was arrested and taken to Scripps Memorial Hospital in Encinitas, where he was treated for a cut on his hand suffered when he allegedly broke the front window to gain entry to the house.

Lewis, the son of Ecke’s deceased sister, was booked at County Jail in Vista on suspicion of burglary, kidnaping and false imprisonment. Bail was set at $250,000.

Shortly after 6 a.m., deputies received a call reporting a car accident at the front gate of the Ecke family home on Leucadia Boulevard.

Upon arrival, sheriffs were told by security guards that a car had crashed through the front gate, and that an alarm had sounded at the house, Deputy George Garder said.

At the house, deputies found Ecke handcuffed to a chair he was sitting in.

Deputies then spotted Lewis running into a room. Several minutes later, he came out of the room with his hands raised and surrendered, Garder said.

The 910-acre Paul Ecke Poinsettia Ranch, now operated by Paul Ecke Jr., sprawls along the coastal hills through unincorporated areas near Encinitas and Leucadia, stretching almost to Batiquitos Lagoon on the north and to Encinitas Boulevard on the south.

Paul Ecke Sr. came to North County in 1923 from Los Angeles, and started growing flowers on a 40-acre plot. That was the start of an industry that grew through the years to a point where Encinitas could boast that it was “The Flower Capital of the World.”

Carlsbad City Councilman Eric Larson, who operates the San Diego County Flower Auction, said that without Ecke “the flower would not have been as successful as it now is.”

Ecke was credited with breeding the first commercially successful strain of Poinsettia flowers.