Police Have Few Leads in 2 Slayings on Monday

Investigating two slayings in one day, police said Monday they have few leads in the death of a motorcycle rider found bludgeoned by the side of the road or a teenage boy fatally shot in an apparent gang exchange.

The body of J. Bert Deck, 32, of Oxnard, was found early Monday in southeast Oxnard--his head battered. The body was apparently dumped at the side of the road, according to police reports.

Luis Magana, 15, of Oxnard, died several hours later when an altercation between suspected gang members prompted another youth to spray a car with gunfire.

The two deaths bring to five the number of people killed in the city in the first month of the new year. Magana’s slaying is the second believed to be gang-related and involving a teenage boy in less than a week.

Police have found no witnesses to either slaying and are appealing for help from the public.

In the first case, a field worker discovered Deck’s body at about 7 a.m. next to an orchard at the intersection of Pidduck and Nauman roads, said Joe Munoz, commander of investigations.

“He appeared to be bludgeoned with an unknown instrument,” he said.

Police believe the killing occurred about two miles away at the intersection of Sanford Street and Rose Avenue, where a Harley-Davidson motorcycle belonging to the victim was found Monday morning.

“There was a call to our department at 2:15 a.m. about some kind of disturbance,” Senior Officer Tom Chronister said. “Officers went out there and found a small pool of blood in the street, but weren’t able to find any victims.”

Anyone with information about the killing is asked to call Det. Doug Wiley at 385-7604.

The second killing began with a noon confrontation between the occupants of two cars in a residential neighborhood at Vineyard Avenue and Lobelia Drive, Munoz said.

The passenger of a light blue or tan car got out and fired at least a half dozen shots from a pistol at the two youths in a Chevrolet Cavalier, hitting the teenage passenger in the head, he said. Several shots also hit the car, deflating a tire.

The panicked driver then drove the fatally injured youth to a Chevron gas station at the intersection of Gonzales and Ventura roads about 1 1/2 miles away in search of a pay phone. The boy died about two hours later at St. John’s Regional Medical Center.

The traumatized driver is unable to give much of a description of the attackers, Munoz said. Despite the attack occurring on busy Vineyard Avenue, police have little description of the assailants, he said. Anyone with information is asked to call Det. Joe Chase at 385-7663.

The two youths were out cruising for girls and it’s unknown what precipitated the shooting, Munoz said.

The incident is not believed to be related to the killing of a teen at Centerpoint Mall on Thursday, Munoz said.

“It’s coincidental,” he said. “It’s not a sign of the times whatsoever.”