Moorpark Man Arrested After Pipe Bomb Attack : Simi Valley: Police say the incident may have resulted from a child-custody battle. The suspect’s wife once was married to one of the victims.

A Moorpark man was arrested early Sunday on suspicion of attempted murder after he allegedly flung a pipe bomb into the Simi Valley home of his wife’s ex-husband, an act that may have culminated a child-custody battle, police said.

James R. McKeever, 43, was arrested at his home at 2 a.m. Sunday after Simi Valley police searched the house and questioned him for hours, police said in a statement.

“The motive for this bombing is believed to be an ongoing custody dispute” between McKeever’s wife and her former husband, a victim in the bombing, police said.

McKeever was booked into Ventura County Jail, where he was being held Sunday evening in lieu of $250,000 bail. Arraignment is scheduled for Tuesday, authorities said.

Charlene Mayer, 33, and John Monroe, 34, were injured early Saturday after an incendiary pipe bomb was thrown through a window and onto their bed, police said.

Mayer, who suffered major injuries to her left leg and underwent surgery, remained at Simi Valley Hospital late Sunday.

A hospital spokeswoman said she would not describe Mayer’s condition because of the patient’s request for privacy.

Monroe suffered shrapnel wounds on his left leg and torso but was not hospitalized.

Monroe, whom police described as a onetime friend of McKeever, has declined to comment on the bombing.

Family members said that Monroe has a son who is not living with him in Simi Valley.

Police would not say whether Monroe’s son now lives with McKeever. Nor would a relative discuss the custody dispute or the case on Sunday.

McKeever apparently was a suspect from the start. Monroe family members told a reporter Saturday that they had a firm idea about who might have bombed the couple’s southwest Simi Valley home.

Shortly after 10 p.m. Saturday, Simi Valley police began a search of McKeever’s home on the 6000 block of East Westwood Street in Moorpark.

Police said evidence from the house and the victims’ bedroom will be sent to the Ventura County crime laboratory “for analysis and comparison.”

“When those results are available this case will be presented to the district attorney’s office for determination of what charges, if any, will be filed,” police said.

The bomb was made with a large pipe and was more “sophisticated than a common pipe bomb” and was powerful enough to kill Mayer and Monroe, Lt. Bob Klamser said.

The couple did not suffer more serious injuries, he said, because the mattress absorbed much of the bomb’s force.

Mayer and Monroe moved into their Simi Valley rental house less than two weeks ago after living in Moorpark, relatives said.

Monroe owns an auto-restoration business in Chatsworth and Mayer works at a drugstore in Simi Valley, they said.