Bloodhound Trails Irvine Murder Suspect : Crime: The dog tracked an 18-year-old just released from custody, police said. The teen was arrested in the January bludgeoning death of a woman in her home.

A bloodhound who trotted through busy downtown Orange and into a shopping center, following a scent, led to the arrest of an 18-year-old man accused Monday in the slaying of an Irvine woman in her home.

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Police said the unusual arrest occurred Friday after Earl Rhoney was released from Orange County Juvenile Hall, where he had been held on an unrelated burglary charge.

Unknown to Rhoney, police had arranged to have the bloodhound near Juvenile Hall in Orange when Rhoney was released. The bloodhound previously had sniffed an item of clothing that Patricia Lea Pratt, 45, wore when she was fatally bludgeoned in her home Jan. 20.

“Some time after (Rhoney) left, we brought the dog to the front entrance” of Juvenile Hall, Irvine Police Lt. Sam Allevato said.

The dog trailed Rhoney “half a mile through a parking lot, down the street and through The City Shopping Center,” Allevato said.

The dog gave police “the last piece” of evidence needed to arrest Rhoney, the officer said.

“We think that having the bloodhound trail and find him was a pretty definite identification,” Allevato said. “In addition to the bloodhound, we have statements (Rhoney) has made, forensic evidence, other witnesses and so forth. This last piece of evidence we couldn’t conduct until he was released. And, it was a very positive piece of evidence.”

Bloodhounds, according to their handlers, have noses that are 3 million times more sensitive than a human’s. Their noses are so sensitive that they are able to track people by the scent of their body scurf, microscopic skin cells that are sloughed off at a rate of around 50 million a day.

Rhoney, a former Irvine resident, is expected to be arraigned today in Juvenile Court on a murder charge.

He was 17, a juvenile, when Pratt was killed. Prosecutors are also expected to file a motion to try Rhoney as an adult in Orange County Superior Court, Allevato said.

Pratt was a service manager for PacTel Cellular.