2 Men Arrested in Ice Pick Slaying Outside Ojai Party

Ventura County sheriff’s detectives have arrested two men on suspicion of killing a 19-year-old Ohio man with an ice pick outside a party in Ojai, authorities said Monday.

The fatal stabbing of Jasper Fitzgerald late Friday marks the first homicide in Ojai since January, 1991, and was one of three killings that occurred in Ventura County over the weekend.

Ryan Dale Burchell, 19, of Ojai and Anthony James Peterson, 18, of Ventura were arrested late Sunday in connection with Fitzgerald’s death, Ventura County sheriff’s deputies said.

They were being held in Ventura County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail each and were scheduled to be arraigned today in Ventura County Municipal Court.

Authorities would not comment on the circumstances or motive for the stabbing, but Sheriff’s Sgt. Mike Barnes confirmed that Burchell and Peterson had been at the party.

According to authorities, the party began as a gathering of about 25 friends and acquaintances of Fitzgerald, who grew up in Ojai and moved to Columbus, Ohio, about five years ago. Fitzgerald had returned to Ventura County with his father on Friday to visit friends and relatives.

As the night wore on, the party swelled, tripling in size as uninvited guests showed up at the house in the 600 block of Blanche Street, deputies said. Shortly before midnight, several of Fitzgerald’s friends found him lying in a driveway behind the house.

“They thought he was intoxicated and they picked him up and moved him into the garage,” Sheriff’s Lt. Kathy Kemp said. After seeing his wounds, they called authorities.

Even before sheriff’s deputies received the call of the stabbing, several neighbors had complained that the party had gotten out of hand, Lt. Joe Harwell said.

Harwell said sheriff’s deputies in Ojai have had contact with Burchell in the past, but he would not elaborate. According to court records, Burchell was arrested April 22 on suspicion of possessing marijuana for sale. Burchell and Peterson surfaced as suspects in the case during the weekend as detectives interviewed more than 50 people.

Both Burchell and Fitzgerald attended Nordhoff High School in Ojai briefly but not at the same time, according to Assistant Principal Susana Arce. Both later transferred to continuation high school, she said.

An autopsy conducted Monday showed the fatal stab wounds punctured Fitzgerald’s heart and liver, according to Deputy Coroner Jim Wingate. The ice pick believed to have been used in the attack was found by detectives Monday afternoon in a residential yard in Ojai, Kemp said.

In an unrelated homicide in Ventura, two Ventura police detectives traveled to Chino in San Bernardino County Monday to interview friends and family members of 24-year-old Tyrone Baker, who was fatally shot Saturday near the Ventura County Fairgrounds.

Shortly after the shooting, Ventura police arrested Richard Lamont Jones, 22, of Pasadena on suspicion of murder. Jones, who was on parole, was being held Monday in County Jail without bail. He was scheduled to be arraigned today.

Ventura Sgt. Bob Anderson said Baker and Jones were returning from a concert in Santa Maria when they apparently exited the Ventura Freeway and drove to a remote section of South Garden Street, where the shooting occurred. The gun used in the killing has not been found.

“There was no indication of a fight at all,” Anderson said. Baker had been married just 10 days.

In the third homicide of the weekend, Jose Luis Gonzalez, 23, was scheduled to be arraigned today on suspicion of fatally shooting Rosario de la Cruz, 47, on a ranch east of Santa Paula late Friday.