Teenager Suspected of Killing Mother Returned to L.A.

A Sun Valley teenager suspected of shooting his mother to death was being returned to Los Angeles from Washington state Thursday night to face murder charges.

The boy, who will be 16 next week, agreed to return to California voluntarily during a juvenile court hearing Thursday morning in Kelso, a small town in rural southern Washington.

He was accompanied by Los Angeles police detectives, who traveled to Washington to question him in connection with the death of his mother, Lois Marie O’Donnell, 51, who was killed last Friday in the Sun Valley home she shared with her son.

Police have said they suspect the boy shot his mother to death, then left town in her car, using her ATM card to help finance his flight.

He turned up in Washington on Sunday, and came to the attention of authorities there the next day, when he reported to a hotel clerk that he had been robbed and abandoned by his traveling companion, a man in his early 20s. The clerk called police, who turned the boy over to the state’s children’s protective services agency.

“He had an elaborate story about how he ended up here and where he was headed,” said Mel Jewell, administrator for the Cowlitz County Juvenile Court. He told children’s services officials that his mother had been dead for several months and he was en route to visit relatives in Spokane and Yakima, Wash., Jewell said.

“They were attempting to arrange temporary foster care placement for the lad until they could return him to a relative,” Jewell said. “But during the course of their investigation, they determined there was a warrant pending and he was arrested.”

That warrant had been issued Tuesday, after O’Donnell’s brother, concerned that he hadn’t seen her in several days, discovered her body in the home. Police said there is physical evidence linking the boy to the killing, but would not be more specific. An autopsy Thursday concluded that she died from a gunshot to the head.

Jewell said the youth was represented by a local Washington attorney during Thursday’s juvenile court hearing, and signed a voluntary agreement to return to Los Angeles.

“It’s my understanding that he’s depressed,” Jewell said. “He seems to be oriented, but he’s obviously not on top of everything.”

Neighbors of the family said the youth was quiet and rarely seen outside the home, and that although O’Donnell doted on the boy, there were problems between them.

Margaret Justus, a motel clerk in Castle Rock, Wash. who led police to the boy on Monday, said the small town was stunned to realize that the boy they thought was a poor, abandoned child is suspected of being a murderer.

“He just seemed like a scared kid to me,” she said. “He didn’t know anybody in town. . . . He didn’t have any possessions, just $8 in his pocket.”

He was on the verge of tears when he told Justus that he needed help, saying his companion had gone out for coffee, taking his car and possessions, and not returned.

“I told him, ‘Call your mom and she’ll tell you what to do.’ He said his mom had been dead for a long time.

“I said, ‘Call your dad.’ He said his dad was in Florida and he hadn’t been in touch with him for years. I said, ‘Call whoever you’ve been living with.’ He said that was who he’d been living with, the guy who’d just left him.”