Witness at Site of Clairemont Slayings Surfaces

Prosecutors said Monday that they have a witness who saw Christopher Clark Box at the scene of a triple slaying last week in Clairemont at about the time the killings occurred.

Box, 20, pleaded not guilty Monday to charges that he killed a young woman, her 3-year-old child, and a young man in a Clairemont house. The bodies of the victims, who apparently were beaten, were found at different locations, but investigators believe they were killed at the house on Wednesday.

The witness, Rodney Nicholson, suffered a broken arm when Box hit him with a baseball bat at the house, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Lori Rooney. Box also has been charged with the attempted murder of Nicholson. “He’s one of the witnesses who can identify him,” Rooney said.

The existence of the survivor was disclosed Monday at Box’s arraignment in a courtroom packed with his high-school friends. Box was a star wrestler and football player at Clairemont High School.

Rooney said Nicholson did not witness the slayings of April Gilhousen, 20; her son, Bryan, and Kevin Chandler, 29. Gilhousen’s body was found in the house. Her 4-month-old daughter, Aspen, was found in her crib nearby, unhurt. The bodies of the other two victims were found in the Clairemont neighborhood.

Nicholson knocked on Gilhousen’s door and was assaulted by Box, Rooney said. Nicholson then ran to a convenience store and was treated for his injuries, she said. He apparently was unaware of what happened in the house, she said.

A 17-year-old co-defendant, a member of the Clairemont High School football team, is to have a detention hearing today in Juvenile Court.

Rooney said robbery was “most likely” a motive for the slayings, adding that she had no information about why the bodies were taken from the house.

San Diego Municipal Judge Frank Brown set bail for Box at $2 million and set a preliminary hearing for Oct. 6.

The muscular Box came into the courtroom wearing jail clothes, looked at the crowd and faced the judge, all the time surrounded by three or four bailiffs.

Box’s father was in the audience, but he declined to talk to reporters.