Autopsy Yields No Clues in Deaths of 2 San Diego Boys

Two boys, targets of a frantic search by family members before their bodies were discovered beside the Otay River this week, died of strangulation, the county medical examiner here said Wednesday.

The official autopsy results offered no other clues into the mysterious double homicide that has baffled detectives and panicked parents and school officials in the South San Diego neighborhood where the boys were last seen Saturday afternoon, riding their bicycles.

The bodies of Jonathan Sellers, 9, and Charles Keever, 13, were discovered Monday by a bicyclist, who spotted them near a trail in underbrush along the banks of the Otay River, about a quarter-mile west of Interstate 5.

San Diego Police Department spokesman Dave Cohen said homicide detectives were focusing Wednesday on the crime scene and on 15 to 20 transients who live in an encampment under a nearby bridge.

Several of the homeless people were brought in for questioning after police discovered they had outstanding arrest warrants, Cohen said.

“This is a process of eliminating people as much as coming up with people. We’re questioning everybody staying in the riverbed area,” he said. “Right now, everyone’s a suspect until they’re eliminated.”

Elayne Poston, Jonathan Sellers’ aunt, said Wednesday she had been told by Jonathan’s four siblings that squatters under the bridge constantly threaten children who ride their bikes through the area, sometimes threatening them with death.

Cohen said police had received more than 50 calls from people offering information and that 10 detectives had been assigned to the case full time. Even Mayor Susan Golding acknowledged the homicides, closing a city council meeting closed a City Council meeting with a statement in memory of the boys.

People throughout San Diego seemed stunned by the crime, which appeared to have no motive and claimed as its victims two boys who struck many as extraordinary if only for being so ordinary--good students who enjoyed basketball and bicycling and being the other’s best friend.

Jonathan’s aunt said the victims’ families were overwhelmed by the generosity of well-wishers, who by Wednesday had contributed thousands of dollars to a fund that will pay funeral and burial costs.

“People are being supportive, but we hope something pans out, and soon,” Poston said. “We need good information, and we need it now. Above all, we want justice done.”