Fullerton Man Held in Slaying of Child, 3

Michael Robert Pacewitz was a model convert at Jacob’s Well Christian Center, a fundamentalist church in Fullerton for young people trying to get off the streets. But about three weeks ago, he quit his job at a local T-shirt shop and slid back into drug use, church officials said.

Late last week, according to the officials, he mooned members of the church congregation during a service.

And on Saturday, the 21-year-old Fullerton man allegedly stabbed to death the 3-year-old daughter of a fellow church member. Fullerton police have said Pacewitz confessed to the crime.

While Pacewitz on Sunday remained without bail in the Fullerton City Jail on suspicion of murder, friends and fellow churchgoers blamed his actions on what they alleged was his renewed use of methamphetamines.

“The devil really ripped him off,” said Andy St. Pierre, 21, an usher at the church and a housemate of Pacewitz’s. “Apparently, he just went over the edge.”

According to Fullerton police, Pacewitz had called from a pay phone at 5:54 a.m. Saturday to say he had just “killed a baby.” Officers broke into the apartment of Pacewitz’s church friend, Joanne Boydston, and discovered her daughter, Marcelline Boydston, dead from numerous stab wounds. Boydston’s 9-month-old son was found unharmed and was placed in protective custody.

Police said Pacewitz was baby-sitting for Boydston and her husband at the time of the killing. Boydston, who works in a doctor’s office, did not learn of the death until later in the day, at which time officials said she became hysterical. She was questioned and released Saturday night at the Fullerton Police Department.

On Sunday morning, Boydston and her husband briefly attended the Jacob’s Well services inside a Fullerton warehouse, but left quickly as Pastor Robert Town began to conduct a wedding of two churchgoers. She spent the rest of the day at the La Habra home of her brother, Rick Boydston.

“She’s very upset,” said Rick Boydston. “We don’t know anything other than what was in the paper.”

John Robinson, an usher at the 6-year-old Jacob’s Well church, said he helped convert Boydston and Pacewitz a year ago while they lived in separate rooms of the same low-rent motel in Anaheim. Pacewitz was living with his mother, while Boydston lived with her family. Both were suffering from drug addiction before being “saved” in a Bible study group, Robinson said.

Until recently, church usher St. Pierre said, Pacewitz was a highly regarded member of the congregation of about 250, which includes many former drug addicts, prison convicts and gang members. These latter congregants were brought to the church by an outreach program.

“Mike had always been a good guy,” said St. Pierre, who said he is a recovering cocaine addict. “He was always at church helping to clean up and mop floors.”

Pacewitz also worked for a church-operated painting company until he tired of the job about two months ago and took up St. Pierre’s offer to work with him at Expressions Screen Print and Embroidery in Anaheim, St. Pierre said. He worked there until about three weeks ago, when he resigned after making mistakes, St. Pierre said.

“He had printed a couple of numbers on a shirt upside down, and the next day said he would not be working anymore,” St. Pierre recalled.

That is when Pacewitz began using methamphetamine, or “crystal,” and became increasingly distant, St. Pierre said.

Pacewitz showed up for services last Thursday and, pastor Town said, dropped his pants and mooned the congregation before being escorted away by ushers.