Plea Made for Slaying Information : Crime: As officers continue investigating, the mother and grandfather of the 14-year-old victim recall him as a loving boy.

He was a bright, affectionate kid who was just starting to like girls.

And as the mother of Carl Dan Claes on Sunday recalled their last conversation before her 14-year-old son was murdered, tears came to her eyes.

“We always closed our conversations with the ‘I love you’s,’ ” said Danella George. “I said, ‘I love you, Carl.’ And he said, ‘I love you, Mom.’ ”

That was about a week before last Wednesday, when Carl’s body was found in a Lemon Heights ditch about three miles from his home, a bullet in his head.

Now George wants to know who killed him, and why.

As the parent of a murdered child, George pleaded that anyone with information on the crime come forward. “They will be protected,” she said. “If they don’t, it can be somebody else’s child next.”

At a news conference in front of the victim’s home, George and the boy’s grandfather, Dan George, 73, who was his legal guardian, shared photographs of Carl. They also handed out green ribbons with teddy bear decals, because green was “Carl’s favorite color,” his mother said, and “because teddy bears signify love.”

Sheriff’s Department investigators have searched for evidence at the site where the body was found and have interviewed students at two Tustin-area middle schools, A.G. Currie and Columbus Tustin.

On Sunday, Sheriff’s Lt. Dan Martini said the homicide investigation remained at a “very intense stage,” although there was no new information.

The boy was not associated with any gang, did not use drugs and did not condone alcohol use by adults.

Martini said the youth apparently was not kidnaped but lured away and had gone voluntarily.

“There was no sign of a struggle,” Martini said. “And that’s what makes this thing so baffling.”

Carl, who had recently transferred to a new school, suffered from hyperactivity, an attention-deficit disorder for which his doctor had prescribed the drug Ritalin.

His mother and grandfather insisted that “Carl was no different” from any other 14-year-old.

“He’s a kid who had a lot going for him,” his mother said. “He was actually quite a smart kid, he just hated school. He was a boy, an All-American boy.”

Carl’s grandfather had been his legal guardian since the boy was 18 months old. His mother, a 40-year-old U.S. Forest Service research officer, lives in Sonora, in Northern California. Carl’s father lives in Ohio.

The grandfather said that his daughter, having chosen the Forest Service as a career, was unable to raise her son because of the necessity of living in remote areas.

“In fact, once Carl had finished the school year, he was going to move in with her,” Dan George said.

Danella George said the last time she saw her son alive was May 2, during a two-day visit.

She said she and Carl had a loving relationship. She telephoned him weekly and they exchanged postcards and letters, she said.

In their last telephone conservation, about a week before he was found dead, his mother recalled Carl’s telling her that for the first time he had begun to like a girl. That was a major change for her son, who otherwise had been preoccupied with watching professional ice hockey and rooting for his favorite team, the Pittsburgh Penguins, and favorite player, Mario Lemieux.

At the news conference, Carl’s mother showed off a large wooden M for Mario, which the teen-ager had made in a school shop class. Carl had also inscribed Lemieux’s jersey number 66 on the project.

A memorial service for Carl is to be held at 6:30 p.m. today at the family home. Private burial services will be in Texas early next month.

Anyone who has information about the slaying is asked to contact Sheriff’s Department investigators at (714) 647-7044 during normal working hours, or the watch commander at (714) 834-6490 after hours.