2 Men Plead Guilty in Attack on Woman

Two men accused of kidnaping, severely beating and stabbing an elderly La Canada Flintridge woman pleaded guilty last week to charges of attempted murder, robbery and kidnaping for the purpose of robbery.

Paul Edward Keeling, 20, and Randall J. Countryman, 19, on Friday admitted all charges against them in the July 8, 1988, kidnaping of Eloise Purdy, then 77. Purdy survived the attack.

Police said the two men, both from Arizona, approached Purdy outside a Montrose bank and asked for a ride. According to police reports, Purdy’s assailants drove her to an Indio palm grove where they stabbed her twice in the chest, beat her unconscious and left in her car.

When Purdy regained consciousness, she was able to walk to a nearby road and summon help from a motorist, police said.

“It was a tremendously serious case and I approached it that way,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Anthony Castaneda. “My indication was always that no deals were going to be made on the case. . . . I guess they believed me. They pled to everything.”

Sentencing before Pasadena Superior Court Judge Jack B. Tso is scheduled Aug. 30. Both men face a maximum sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole.