Suspect Says Devil Told Him to Murder 3-Year-Old and He’s ‘Not Sorry’

Michael Robert Pacewitz, the Fullerton man accused of stabbing to death a 3-year-old girl, said in a jail interview Wednesday that he is a devil worshiper and that Satan told him to kill the toddler.

The 21-year-old unemployed painter said he thought about killing Marcelline Onick for three hours before stabbing her to death last Saturday while he was baby-sitting her and her half brother, 9-month-old Vasshawn Robinson, both the children of a neighbor, Joanne Boydston, 25. Vasshawn was not hurt.

“The devil wanted me to do it and I wanted to do it for him,” Pacewitz said in the medical ward of Orange County Jail in Santa Ana. “I’m not sorry because I wanted to do it. I wanted her dead.”

Pacewitz agreed to a joint interview with reporters from The Times and the Orange County Register.

Unshaven and disheveled in a jail-issue yellow jumpsuit, Pacewitz spoke slowly and hesitantly as he explained how he has been struggling with his sexual identity, has long harbored resentment for his mother, has unsuccessfully sought psychological help for his problems, and hopes he is sentenced to death for the murder.

The attack on the girl, he said, happened after his roommate asked him to take over baby-sitting Boydston’s two children in her apartment upstairs.

Pacewitz said the children were asleep in their bedroom when he arrived about 2 a.m. Saturday. He said he lay on the couch for three hours thinking about killing Marcelline. Shortly before 6 a.m., Pacewitz said, he attacked the girl, sexually molesting her before stabbing her repeatedly.

He said he decided to surrender to police shortly after the slaying because he wanted psychiatric help. But, he added, “I hope to be on Death Row.”

In addition to a murder charge, Pacewitz also faces two counts of attempted murder in the stabbing of his mother, Elena George Fontaine, 40, and her boyfriend, Juan Martinez Marin, 28, the night before Marcelline’s death.

Pacewitz said he entered his mother’s Anaheim apartment at her invitation and asked to talk in a bedroom. He said he then drew a knife, and she ordered him to put it down.

“I told her I wanted to kill her,” Pacewitz said.

Pacewitz said he stabbed his mother several times. He said she ran out of the apartment, stumbled and fell. He said he stabbed her again.

Pacewitz also stabbed Marin’s hands when he tried to intercede, Anaheim police said.

Fontaine remained hospitalized Wednesday. Marin was not seriously wounded.

When asked what prompted the attack on his mother, Pacewitz thought a moment and replied: “I didn’t like my mother . . . want to go back and kill my mother.”

Investigators from the Fullerton and Anaheim police departments were unavailable to comment on Pacewitz’s interview.

A law enforcement officer involved in the case, who asked not to be named, confirmed that Pacewitz had admitted molesting Marcelline. However, he said, there is no evidence that she was molested. He also said Pacewitz never mentioned his interest in satanic worship to police.

Orange County Deputy Dist. Atty. Mel Jensen, who is prosecuting the case, declined comment on Pacewitz’s interview.

Jensen said, however, that past murder defendants have made similar public statements to aid an insanity defense. If Pacewitz were to do so in this case, Jensen said, he would have to prove he was insane at the time of the crimes.

“I can’t tell if (what Pacewitz said in the interview) is legitimate or if he is manufacturing this,” Jensen said.

Orange County Deputy Public Defender E. Robert Goss, who is representing Pacewitz, also declined comment on the interview. Goss said he had instructed his client Tuesday not to speak with anyone before consulting with him first, and that a court order was issued earlier this week barring unauthorized interviews with Pacewitz.