Suspect in Killing of Northridge Boy Is Charged With Molestation

Ventura County prosecutors on Friday filed sexual molestation charges against a former day-care worker who is also charged with kidnaping and killing an 8-year-old Northridge boy found gagged and burned beyond recognition in a field near Simi Valley in March.

Gregory Scott Smith, who is being held without bail in Ventura County Jail, will be arraigned Wednesday on the two sexual molestation charges. Facing combined charges of kidnaping and first-degree murder, Smith, 23, of Canoga Park, could be sentenced to death if convicted.

A mistrial in the case was declared two weeks ago when Smith’s public defenders said they also represented a jailhouse informant who is serving as a key prosecution witness in the case. A new trial is expected to start in the spring.

County prosecutors on Friday revealed very little about what led them to file the new charges. But Deputy Dist. Atty. Peter D. Kossoris said that it is a “logical conclusion” that information provided by the informant prompted the action.

Prosecutors allege that Smith killed Paul Bailly while forcibly molesting him.

Smith’s attorneys could not be reached for comment.

According to the Ventura County coroner’s office, the boy suffocated on his own vomit while his mouth was gagged. A bruise on the back of his neck also indicated that he may have been strangled.

Dr. F. Warren Lovell, the county coroner, ruled that Paul was dead when his body was set afire because there was no soot in the boy’s nose or windpipe and no carbon monoxide in his blood.

After an initial analysis, the coroner had said there was no evidence of sexual assault. But he added that investigators were conducting further tests. The coroner’s report was sealed after the investigation was completed.

Paul disappeared March 23 after his mother dropped him off at the day-care program at Darby Avenue Elementary School in Northridge, where Smith worked.

Firefighters found his charred body that afternoon when summoned to extinguish a brush fire in the Santa Susana Knolls area south of Simi Valley.

The next day, Ventura homicide investigators arrested Smith.