Candy Seller, 15, Held in Lomita Stabbing

A 15-year-old Downey youth was charged Wednesday with attempted murder in Sunday’s stabbing of a Lomita woman who 30 minutes earlier had refused to buy candy when he came to her door.

Police alleged that the boy entered the home in the 1800-block of 259th Place through a bedroom window and stabbed Heidi Henrich, 30, when she found him rummaging through her closet.

Henrich, who was stabbed in the chest, was released Tuesday from Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, sheriff’s and hospital officials said.

The 15-year-old, whose name was not released because of his age, was arraigned in Inglewood Superior Court. His plea was not available, court officials said. He will be tried as a juvenile and is being held at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey.

Detective Bill Coffey said the youth was a candy seller for the Student Work Program, a national firm that hires inner-city youths to sell chocolates door-to-door. The firm’s local representatives are in Whittier, but they could not be reached for comment.

Henrich told detectives that a boy selling candy knocked on her door about 5 p.m. Sunday. She declined to buy anything and closed the door. When the youth returned minutes later, she did not answer the door, Coffey said.

About 20 minutes later, Henrich heard her dogs barking and went to the rear of her home, where she allegedly found the youth going through her bedroom closet.

“She screamed and he started growling at her,” Coffey said.

The youth allegedly stabbed the woman once and made repeated attempts to stab her again before leaving through the bedroom window, Coffey said. He was arrested about three hours later, as he waited on a corner a block away to be picked up by Javier and Gloria Salgado, the couple who runs the local branch of the Student Work Program, Coffey said.

“He confessed to the crime,” Coffey said. “He said he stabbed (the woman) to keep her from screaming.”

Coffey also said the youth is suspected of entering another home about 30 minutes earlier in the same neighborhood. The resident there, also alerted by a barking dog, saw a youth inside the front door of his home, which had been shut. The boy told the man he was selling candy and immediately left the house, Coffey said.