Upland Boy Was Beaten to Death : Coroner Finds Alcohol in Body of 9-Year-Old

Jason Matthew Lea, the 9-year-old Upland boy whose body was dumped over a cliff in the San Gabriel Mountains, was killed by severe blows to the chest and had alcohol in his blood, the coroner’s office disclosed today.

“Jason Lea died as a result of blunt force trauma to the chest due to an assault. The case is listed as a homicide,” said Bob Dambacher, spokesman for Los Angeles County’s chief medical examiner-coroner.

Alcohol was present in the boy’s body, but no drugs were found, Dambacher said. The alcohol level could not be measured because of the decomposed condition of the body.

Injuries Not Caused by Fall

“He died of some type of blows,” said Dambacher, adding that the injuries were not caused by a fall and were not necessarily caused by any type of instrument.

Jason, who lived with his grandfather, Gerry Yeager, vanished the night of July 29 after telling Yeager that he was going for a bicycle ride.

His 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.

Dambacher said it was evident from the outset that there were blunt force chest injuries.

“That was known right away. We wanted to complete the lab analysis and the work we were asked to do. We don’t like to release it piecemeal,” the spokesman said.

“We have been advised by the coroner’s office that their evidence shows that the victim received injuries both before and after death,” said Deputy Kathryn Nielsen of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Teen-Agers Arrested

Four teen-agers were arrested in connection with the case, and Upland Police Capt. Douglas Millmore said the youths were friends and “acted in concert in committing this crime.”

But prosecutors later said there was insufficient evidence to link them to the boy’s death.

Two youths, including the son of a San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputy, were released “pending further investigation,” and two others were still in custody today in San Bernardino County, Nielsen said.

Richard LaLonde, 18, was in custody on a probation violation and a 16-year-old boy was in Juvenile Hall on an unrelated charge, Nielsen said. Details of that charge and the probation violation were not disclosed.

Homicide detectives were awaiting the completed coroner’s report before taking their case to the district attorney’s office in Pomona for possible filing of murder charges, she said.

At the same time the autopsy results were released, a memorial service was under way at the 11th Street Baptist Church in Upland.