Fugitive’s Kin Under Suspicion : Crime: The family of a Long Beach teen-ager accused of killing a deaf man and wounding his brother may have planned to join the youth in Upstate New York.

The family of a Long Beach teen-ager accused of shooting two deaf Palmdale brothers, killing one, may have been preparing to join the fugitive youth in Upstate New York before he was arrested there, police said Tuesday.

Los Angeles Police Detective Michael Brandt said investigators had indications that the Bellinger family was planning to return to New York, where 16-year-old-Joey Bellinger was arrested Friday in the Jan. 28 slaying of Cesar Vieira, 30, and wounding of Vieira’s brother Edward, 25.

The youth’s father, Joseph Paul Bellinger, 40, was arrested Monday on suspicion of helping his son evade arrest.

The elder Bellinger has been selling furniture from the family’s Long Beach home and police had “unconfirmed information” that the family would move soon to the Utica, N.Y., area, Brandt said.

Bellinger and his wife, Phyllis, both have relatives in the area, and a teen-age daughter, murdered in 1987, is buried there, the detective said.

The elder Bellinger posted $5,000 bail early Tuesday and is scheduled for arraignment March 16 in Long Beach Municipal Court. He will be charged with being an accessory to a felony, which carries a maximum penalty of three years in state prison and a $5,000 fine on conviction, Deputy Dist. Atty. Allan Fork said.

Brandt said police would also investigate reports that Phyllis Bellinger asked a woman friend in the Utica suburb of Cassville to temporarily board her son without mentioning that he was wanted for murder.

Joey Bellinger was arrested at the home of the woman, who told a Utica newspaper she was led to believe that the whole family was moving back to the area and that she had no idea the youth was a fugitive.

“We’re going to talk to some people back in New York and determine whether there is any merit to a case involving the mother,” said Brandt, adding that police had no “hard evidence” against her.

The Bellingers’ telephone has been disconnected and neither parent could be reached for comment.

Joey Bellinger appeared in court in Utica on Tuesday and consented to return to California without an extradition hearing, Oneida County Dist. Atty. Barry M. Donalty said.

Brandt said the suspect will be returned to Los Angeles as soon as possible, depending on paper work and travel arrangements.

The Police Department’s Devonshire Division hoped to have at least two officers in Utica today to escort him to Juvenile Hall in Sylmar, he said.

Joey Bellinger is charged with murder in the fatal shooting of Cesar Vieira and attempted murder in the wounding of Edward Vieira during a fight in a parking lot near Balboa Boulevard and Devonshire Street in Granada Hills.

The brothers, who had limited speaking skills, communicated mainly in sign language, their family said.