Clash of Images : Some in S. Pasadena See Slayings of 3 Teen-Age Girls as Sign of a Subculture of Troubled Youth

The shotgun murders of three teen-age girls last month after a 10-hour drug and alcohol binge happened in a wealthy Pasadena enclave.

But the link between the girls and the boys accused of killing them was South Pasadena High School, a cluster of off-white buildings and grassy playing fields serving a city residents like to call “the last of the Norman Rockwell small towns.”

Now, teen-agers at the school and some adults are trying to reconcile this image with the horror of what happened early in the morning of March 22.

Some South Pasadena residents resolutely reject suggestions that the murders sprang from a hard-partying subculture centered at the school.

“It’s ludicrous for anyone to assert that the party scene is in some way responsible for a couple of degenerate boys going ape and killing three girls,” said Tom Biesek, a South Pasadena engineer whose daughter is a senior at the school.

But others believe that easy access to drugs and alcohol on and off campus, combined with lack of supervision at home and fractured families, played a part in the deaths of Katherine Macaulay, 18, Heather Goodwin, 18, and Danae Palermo, 17. All had attended South Pasadena High, and the youths accused in the crime--David Adkins, 16, and Burton Vincin Hebrock, 17--were part of the high school party scene, and Adkins had been a student there.

Hebrock and Adkins were arraigned on murder charges in Pasadena Juvenile Court two weeks ago. They are scheduled to appear there again April 26 for a hearing on a prosecution motion to have them tried as adults.

South Pasadena High School, with about 1,200 students, ranks in the top 10% in state achievement tests. Eighty-six per cent of its graduates go on to college. Only 2.4% of its students drop out, the third-lowest rate in Los Angeles County.

“The school and the community go hand in hand,” said Ivan Choi, 17, the school’s commissioner general, or head of student government. “Overall, it’s a very good place to go. It’s more like a private school than a public school.”

But like many high schools in Southern California, South Pas High is also a place where, some students say, LSD is readily available for $5 a hit and drinking is widespread.

“Everyone thinks this school is so high and mighty,” said senior Tamara McMillon. “They think it’s the perfect school with 4.0 students and all, and sure, we have that. But we also have a serious drug problem.”

Choi agreed there is “a big alcohol problem,” which most adults don’t realize. “The community doesn’t know about it, but all the kids do,” he said.

Some said the school does a good job of serving high achievers, but does not do as well for troubled students.

“The C and D students just seem to fall through the cracks,” said a city official who requested anonymity.

Freshman Todd Amundson, 15, is one who has seen the dark side of high school life.

He is a recovering addict, sober and drug-free for six months and attending Alateen meetings. He said he is failing English, but his parents have promised him a van if he brings his average up to a C.

“I can’t name one person in the group I hang out with who hasn’t tried acid or is doing it now,” he said.

Principal Ben Ramirez acknowledged community concern about teen-age drug and alcohol abuse. “You just know there are a lot of things happening that shouldn’t, whether they be alcohol or drugs,” he said. “A lot has to do with supervision, and at a lot of the parties, it appears that there is no supervision.”

One who is concerned is City Councilman Jim Hodge, a local dentist.

His 14-year-old daughter has chosen not to attend South Pasadena High next year after she graduates from South Pas Junior High, and instead will attend a private school in La Canada Flintridge.

“She’s seen a lot of things on the (junior high) campus--graffiti, the beginnings of gang activity, a confrontation between two groups of kids,” he said. “She was led to believe it might be worse at high school.”

Hodge said there are stories of youths pulling knives on each other at the junior high school. “Ten years ago, that would not have even been conceivable in South Pasadena.”

He said there was considerable speculation in the community that some youngsters, such as those involved in the murder party, should have more parental supervision. “But these kids are 16 or 17,” he said. “At that age, they’re resourceful enough so that it would be pretty difficult to stop them altogether from having get-togethers. That’s unrealistic.”

City Manager John Bernardi, whose son is a South Pasadena High student, agreed. The triple slaying, he said, “just goes to show that we’re as much a part of the world as everybody else is.”

That sentiment is echoed by others.

South Pasadena police have responded to numerous complaints about loud teen-age parties in town in the past year. But Cmdr. Mike Ward sees this as not unique to the city or the school. “It’s also occurring at every other high school in Southern California,” said Ward, adding that police do not keep separate statistics on complaints about parties.

Added South Pasadena High PTA President Jan Cherrie, “That’s been the concern in the community for many years. It’s the same problem as any community. I don’t think it’s any different here than anywhere else. I don’t think it’s particularly the school’s problem.”

What is clear is that the teen-agers engulfed in the tragedy circulated in a world where drug and alcohol use was common, at the same time struggling with problems inside and outside school.

Only Goodwin lived with both parents. The murder scene--in a pool house behind Macaulay’s family home in the affluent Annandale section of Pasadena--was often used for beer blasts and small drinking-and-drug gatherings, teen-agers said. Macaulay lived there separately from her mother and stepfather, who were out of town when the early morning murders occurred.

Macaulay’s father, Wayne, is a Marine stationed in Thailand. Her stepfather, Michael Koss, a physician, and mother, Linda Macaulay, a clinical pathologist at County USC Medical Center, often were away from home on business, said Biesek, who is a friend of the family.

She was the only one of the group still attending classes at the regular high school, where officials described her as an unexceptional student. Friends said she had been “ditching” for most of the three weeks before her death. She and the other two victims had been friends since they attended South Pasadena Junior High together.

Adkins, Macaulay’s boyfriend, appeared troubled, acquaintances said. Son of waitress Pam Discala, who is divorced, he had gone through a “skinhead” phase, appearing around town with his head shaved and wearing combat boots. “Are you down with us, or are you dead?” he allegedly said to friend Cayle Fielder, the only witness to the murders, after shooting the three girls, Fielder has told police.

Hebrock, the other boy accused in the killings, is illiterate, say acquaintances. He had not attended school since he was a student at South Pasadena Junior High, school officials said. Through his friendship with Adkins, he was a part of the group, friends said.

Goodwin, Adkins and Fielder had left the high school to attend classes at a small alternative school on El Centro Street, where some students are sent for truancy or other problems. Palermo had left South Pasadena High to earn a high school equivalency diploma. She was attending classes at Glendale Community College.

Some adults are concerned that budget cuts at the school contribute to letting students like these drift into trouble.

“We should form a committee to see if program cuts have something to do with this,” said Ted Shaw, a local insurance broker and a former mayor. “Were the kids bored because certain academic programs were unavailable to them? I just know that the talk on the street is, ‘God, it’s a shame--young people are so different today from when we were in school.’ ”

School Supt. Lou Joseph said steps are being taken to reach “youngsters who are less motivated academically,” citing special “developmental” classes and computer writing labs.

“We haven’t done all we want to, but we’re moving toward it,” he said.

Students at the school are still haunted by the killings. The district has brought in two psychologists to counsel troubled students.

Fielder, nicknamed “Bird,” has been in hiding for the past three weeks, surfacing only for an interview last week with a television reporter.

Sometime during the weekend after the murders, somebody spray-painted on the wall of the South Pas High gymnasium: “In loving memory of Kathy, Heather, Danae. R.I.P. Love, Bird.”