Motive Sought for Two Killings in Courthouse : Crime: Some speculate suspect was under intense stress. His daughter, 5, was a witness in dog-mauling case.

Authorities still had found no motive Wednesday for the fatal shooting of a woman and her daughter in a crowded courthouse, but acquaintances speculated the suspect had been under intense stress because of a dog-mauling case in which his young daughter was a prosecution witness.

“He’s been talking kind of off-the-wall about religion,” said Judy Brown, a kitchen worker for the Val Verde School District. Brown lives in a run-down rural section of unincorporated Mead Valley, next door to the mobile home belonging to Fred Helvy, the 32-year-old machinist who was captured shortly after the Tuesday afternoon shooting.

At about 12:45 p.m., Elizabeth Ann Castillo, 27, and her daughter, Cori Ann Castillo, 9, were gunned down as they sat in a courthouse waiting room preparing to testify--like Helvy’s daughter--for the prosecution in the same dog-mauling case.

Helvy, who fled the courthouse while using his daughter, Christy, 5, as a shield, was charged Wednesday with two counts of murder with a firearm. He was to be arraigned this afternoon in Riverside Municipal Court, Deputy Dist. Atty. Bill Mitchell said.

Just before his capture, Helvy dropped a 9-millimeter semiautomatic handgun. Authorities later recovered a hunting rifle and a loaded .22-caliber handgun in his pickup truck, Riverside County Sheriff’s Sgt. Dan Miller said.

Miller said Helvy’s wife, Veronica, had also told police her husband was upset about the court case. Helvy had “no violence in his background” but had once been arrested for illegally engaging in target practice, Mitchell said.

The Castillos and Christy Helvy had been scheduled to testify against another Mead Valley resident, Jeffrey Gude, 35, who was charged with creating a public nuisance after his two Alaskan malamutes allegedly attacked a 5-year-old boy, mauling and seriously maiming him, Deputy Dist. Atty. Cynthia L. Brewer said.

Last year, Christy Helvy was bitten on the buttocks by one of the dogs while she was riding her bicycle along the dirt road in front of Gude’s house, according to Brewer. On a separate occasion, Gude’s dogs, who were allowed to run free, had badly frightened Cori Ann Castillo, by approaching the child, baring their teeth and growling, the prosecutor said.

The Gude case was put off until Monday, and Brewer said it was uncertain whether the jury would be discharged. On Wednesday, an armed deputy stood in the lone courtroom in the tiny courthouse, where another case was being heard, but otherwise there were no signs of extra security precautions.

Helvy’s boss at a machine shop in Orange said Helvy had missed work because of the case. It “was creating a lot of havoc in his life,” said John Robson, owner of Orange Technical Art Inc. “Imagine having to take your 5-year-old daughter to court.”

Robson described Helvy as a quiet man, who kept to himself most of the time at work and enjoyed collecting rocks and breeding dogs. The Helvys also have an 8-year-old daughter.

Helvy’s dogs caused a problem for another neighbor, Maxine Bailes, who said she once complained about animal smells emanating from Helvy’s property. Describing Helvy as a “very nice, friendly guy,” she said she had never heard him discharge any weapons except the BB gun he occasionally fired.

Brown, Helvy’s other neighbor, said the suspect had recently begun speaking incomprehensibly about the Bible. “He kept talking about the Book of Ezekiel (and saying) that the good people were going to be victorious,” she recalled.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Castillo, who was separated from her husband and was also the mother of a young son, was remembered by another neighbor as “very devoted to her children and her home.” “She was always out riding bicycles . . . with her children,” said Carmen Flores, the night manager of a motel.

Like most people in Mead Valley, near Perris, about 15 miles from Lake Elsinore, the Castillos had a security fence around their modest stucco home. Residents say it is a high-crime area, where the sounds of roosters crowing are frequently interspersed with random gunfire.