Officials Fail to Tie 2 Teens to Boy’s Death
A prosecutor says there is not enough evidence against two teen-agers to link them to the mystery death of 9-year-old Jason Matthew Lea of Upland.
“We cannot proceed,” Supervising Deputy Dist. Atty. Ken Smith told Juvenile Court Judge Craig Kamansky.
Officials are not certain what caused the death of Jason, who vanished after leaving on a bicycle ride from his grandfather’s house last month.
Cause of death probably won’t be established before the middle of next week, said Bob Dambacher, a Los Angeles County coroner’s spokesman.
Two other teen-agers--ages 18 and 19--who had been arrested, were released earlier after investigators said not enough evidence had been gathered to hold them.
An autopsy has been performed, Dambacher said, but investigators said further tests were necessary and had not been completed.
The boy’s decomposed body was found Aug. 4 in a ravine below Glendora Ridge Road in the San Gabriel Mountains, two miles west of the San Bernardino County line in Los Angeles County territory.
San Bernardino County prosecutors say they are not planning further action immediately.
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