Ex-Athlete to Stand Trial in Clairemont Slayings

A former high school athlete was ordered Wednesday to stand trial on murder charges in three brutal slayings in Clairemont.

Municipal Judge Frederic A. Link ordered Christopher Box, 20, to face trial in Superior Court in the Aug. 9 deaths of April Gilhousen, 20; her 3-year-old son, Bryan, and Kevin Chandler, 29.

The judge, who took the action after a preliminary hearing of 2 1/2 days, also ordered Box to stand trial on two new charges of robbery and burglary.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Lori Rooney told the court that “the purpose of the murders was robbery” because a pound of marijuana as well as cash was taken from Gilhousen’s house.

Gilhousen was found stabbed to death in her home, but the bodies of her son and Chandler were found at separate sites along Clairemont Mesa Boulevard.

Box will also be tried on an attempted-murder charge involving Rodney Nicholson, 24, who testified last week that Box hit him twice with a baseball bat when he approached Gilhousen’s home on the day of the killings.

A trial date will be set Oct. 25.

Box’s father, Billy, told reporters after the hearing, which was attended by many of Box’s former classmates at Clairemont High School, that he believed in his son and that the decision to order him to trial was a mistake.

“I know my son is not a murderer,” Billy Box said.

San Diego Police Detective Patrick Ruffner completed his testimony Wednesday, again describing statements by Box in which he allegedly admitted involvement in at least one of the slayings. Ruffner said that Box told him he and co-defendant Manuel Flores Jr., 17, went to Gilhousen’s house and that he saw Flores swing a baseball bat at Chandler, the first person killed.

Chandler got a knife and began swinging it in the air, Ruffner said Box told him. Box then picked up the bat and hit Chandler with it, Ruffner said.

It was Flores who later cut Chandler’s neck, choked the young boy and killed Gilhousen, according to Box’s statements, Ruffner said. Box was not in the same room when Gilhousen was stabbed in the heart, he allegedly told Ruffner.

Flores’ case is pending in Juvenile Court and is awaiting a hearing Nov. 14 to determine whether he will be tried as an adult.

Rooney, the prosecutor, told the judge that the bodies were wrapped in blankets and that the boy’s and Chandler’s were placed in Box’s car to be dumped.

Charles Adair, Box’s attorney, said Box will claim that he hit Chandler in self-defense.

Box graduated from Clairemont High School in 1988 and was an acclaimed wrestler and football player. He remains in County Jail in lieu of $2 million in bail.