City Issues Reward for Teen’s Killer

As city leaders issued a $10,000 reward for the capture of the killer of a popular Ventura teenager, investigators disclosed Monday that they believe they have found the knife used in last week’s fatal stabbing.

James “Jake” Bush, a 16-year-old Buena High student, was killed June 24 by a burglar in his family’s Montalvo home. So far, police do not have a suspect.

“We don’t have a lot of leads. I won’t say we’re without leads but we don’t have a suspect yet,” Police Chief Richard Thomas told the City Council. “We are disgusted with this cowardly act and we will do anything we possibly can to apprehend the perpetrator.”

Mayor Jack Tingstrom said the money would be offered in the Bush case “to break down the walls of silence” and encourage those with information to come forward. The reward fund will come from assets seized in narcotics arrests, according to Thomas.

Detectives said they were more confident that a foot-long serrated knife that was found hours after Bush was killed was weapon to stab the teen.

Ventura Police Lt. Don Arth said the wounds to Bush’s neck, lower chest and upper arm were the same as those that would be made by the knife, marketed through at least one mail-order catalog as the “Intimidator Knife.”

“We’re confident this is going to be the murder weapon,” said Arth about the break in the case. “The timing, location, the nature of the wounds and the descriptions given indicate that this is it.”

Detectives continue to look for a teenager who was seen shortly before the stabbing knocking on doors along the street where Bush, a high school athlete and scholastic standout, died.

Police released a composite sketch of a man described as a cleanshaven Latino in his late teens, about 5-feet-6, with a slender build and close-cropped black hair.

After the fatal stabbing, several residents called police to say they may have seen the teenager in the area. Investigators stress that the teenager is not a suspect at this time but is wanted for questioning.

Jake was stabbed three times around noon last Tuesday after he and his mother, Gail Shirley, stumbled onto a burglar in the family’s Swift Avenue home, police said.

When they arrived home, they noticed something was not right. Shirley called police while her son went into one of the front rooms, where he was attacked.

His mother said she only heard a door slam and the teenager gasp that he had been stabbed. When she came to the front of the house, she saw him staggering from a bedroom mortally wounded. He died about three hours later while undergoing surgery at the Ventura County Medical Center.

A few hours after the teenager died, a homeowner found the knife in a driveway about five blocks away, Arth said.

Crime analysts are still trying to lift fingerprints from the textured black handle of the locking jackknife, Arth said.

The crime analysts will also attempt to determine if traces of blood found on the knife match the victim’s blood type, Arth said.

The discovery--which gave investigators their biggest boost in the case so far--could help detectives narrow a list of suspects.

“We think it’s very important, of course, to find the source of the knife,” Arth said.

The unusual make of the knife--made in Taiwan and sold through mail-order catalogs and possibly at discount stores--has given detectives hope that someone may remember selling the blade to a suspect or seeing someone carrying it, Arth said.

Salesmen at several local military surplus stores said they were familiar with the brand of knife but did not stock it.

At Battlefield Adventures in Ventura, detectives found the store did not carry the knife, but a salesman gave police several supply catalogs to look through.

And detectives found at least one mail-order operation that carried the knife, Arth said.

“Now we have to see if it was sold over the counter or through a catalog,” Arth said.

It is also possible that the knife was purchased at a local swap meet, he said.

Arth said anyone who has knowledge of the knife should call Sgt. Gary McCaskill at 339-4482.

Times staff writer Hilary E. MacGregor contributed to this story.