2 Suspects Questioned in Slaying of Beaumont Boy

At least two suspects were in custody Monday in connection with the kidnap-slaying of 10-year-old Anthony Michael Martinez, reflecting the burgeoning number of tips being offered to authorities by a public anxious for an arrest.

The developments came on a day when Anthony’s mother, Diane Medina, spoke publicly for the first time since the abducted boy’s body was discovered in a desert rock pile. Stoic but sometimes smiling, she said her son was now at peace and that she did not seek vengeance--but hoped that the man who killed her son would be brought to justice.

At least two men--among many questioned by authorities so far--were being held Monday night as suspects in the April 4 kidnapping case that Saturday turned into a homicide investigation.

Los Angeles police had one suspect in custody--a man who had “some similarities” with the kidnapper’s description, said LAPD Cmdr. Tim McBride. He would not explain the circumstances involving the man’s detention.

“Maybe we’ve got the right guy, maybe we don’t, I hope we do,” he said. “He is a possible suspect at this time.”

Beaumont Police Lt. John Acosta said the man was later questioned by an FBI agent, “but it’s still too early to call.”

Another man, who law enforcement sources said closely matched the kidnapper’s description, was being held in San Bernardino County Jail.

The suspect was spotted by a motorist who alerted the California Highway Patrol. He was arrested after a short pursuit and later held without bail for state parole violations, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.

The motorist notified authorities because the man was driving the same kind of white, four-door sedan identified by children who watched Anthony’s abduction, and closely resembled the kidnapper’s physical description.

Although some law enforcement officials believed that the man is a prime suspect in Anthony’s abduction, Acosta said Monday night that no one from the task force had been summoned to interview him. “We don’t know anything about him,” Acosta said.

Medina, the boy’s mother, spoke at a hushed news conference at Beaumont City Hall, offering comfort and gratitude to a community that, for 16 days, tried to bring comfort to her.

“I wanted him to be with us, but if he has to be anywhere, I’d rather he be in heaven than with this man,” she said at a hushed news conference at Beaumont City Hall, just a few blocks from the alley where the boy was snatched at knifepoint April 4.

“He loved Jesus very much. He wrote that Jesus was his favorite person. He’s home now,” she said. “He’s home, where there’s no harm, where this man can never reach him again.

“But I want this man caught. I believe he’s done it before and I believe he’d do it again,” she said, “and I don’t want another family to go through what we had to go through.”

Given the nature of the crime--the violent, daylight kidnapping and subsequent killing of a child by an apparent stranger--experts Monday agreed with Medina that the killer probably has struck before--or probably will again.

Cases like this one “indicate these acts are not a one-time lapse of judgment, but involve offenders who tend to be serial offenders,” said Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the Arlington, Va.-based national clearinghouse for missing children.

“This doesn’t mean they always kill . . . but the most serious offenders, the ones likely to kill, tend to repeat their offense,” he said.

Investigators said they were buoyed by evidence found near the site where Anthony’s body was discovered Saturday, as well as by the growing number--and changing character--of telephone tips.

“In the beginning, they were, ‘I think I saw a guy who looked like him,’ and ‘I saw a car without hubcaps,’ ” said Acosta. “Now we’re getting, ‘It’s my brother, it’s my cousin, it’s my friend.’ ”

Since word of Anthony’s killing, the flow of telephone tips has tripled, Acosta said.

The investigation, previously conducted out of the small Beaumont Police Department, moved Monday to an office in Indio, where “a major task force” was being established by investigators with Beaumont police, the FBI and the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, Probation Department and district attorney’s office.

The rocky hillside where Anthony’s body was found can be seen from the office.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Mark Lohman said evidence was discovered near where the boy’s nude body was found--his feet and hands bound by duct tape. Lohman said disclosing information about the evidence would compromise the investigation.

“It tells us something that only the bad guy knows and we know, and we need to keep it that way,” Lohman said. “If a guy calls and gives us stuff that only the killer knows and we know through our investigation, then we could be on to something.”

Discerning such evidence as tire and foot tracks may prove challenging, however; the area where Anthony’s body was found, alongside a rough desert road known to area residents, is popular among off-road vehicle enthusiasts and recreational shooters.

The location led investigators to speculate that the killer might be familiar with the area.

Investigators may be able to lift fingerprints off the tape that was used to bind Anthony’s hands and legs, experts said.

Randy Parsons, the supervising FBI agent on the case, said the discovery of Anthony’s body “greatly increases the potential for leads.”

“The perpetrator always brings something in and always takes something out,” he said. “They can’t prevent that. Today, there’s a great deal of activity centered on analyzing evidence from the crime scene.

“The fact that we found Anthony means we have much more to work with,” he said, “and much more work to do.”

In Beaumont, people who were angry Sunday displayed quiet determination Monday, their faces red and puffy from tears and sleeplessness as they showed up at the Civic Center to hand out new posters--this time calling for the killer’s apprehension.

The marquee message at City Hall was being changed from one that called for Anthony’s safe return to one announcing his funeral services, a public ceremony set for 11 a.m. Saturday at the Civic Center.

Some of Sunday’s anger--evidenced by the hanging of new ribbons--red, for rage--was quieted by Diane Medina.

“We’re not angry. We’re not vengeful,” she said Monday. She quoted Scripture: “ ‘Vengeance is mine,’ sayeth the Lord.”

“We believe in that,” Medina said. “We don’t want to defile my son’s memory with rage and anger. We want to remember Anthony with love and compassion. We don’t want anger to cloud his memory.”

The red ribbons were removed.

As she spoke, investigators set up their task force in Indio, equipped with phone banks and computers to run personality-profile software that may offer a hint of who lawmen are looking for.

Former FBI agent Bob Barry, director of USC’s Center for the Administration of Justice, said that based on the nature of the crime, the killer is “a criminal psychopath who has no remorse, no guilt.

“He’s not a pedophile, because they love kids. You’re talking about a predator who goes after children because they are very weak adversaries.”

Barry speculated that the killer did not hide Anthony’s body well because he wanted it to be discovered, as a trophy of his deed. “And he probably kept something of the boy’s as a souvenir,” Barry said.

Medina ended her news conference Monday with a remarkable smile, pondering how the media had focused on her son’s positive character.

“You missed [that] he used to whine about having to do his work,” she said. “He doesn’t have to do work [anymore]. He doesn’t have to clean now. He doesn’t have to do laundry now. So, I think he’s very happy where he’s at.”

Times staff writer Gorman reported from Riverside and correspondent Marcum reported from Beaumont.