Investigators Making Progress in Teen’s Slaying

Authorities narrowed their investigation Thursday into the kidnapping and slaying of a 17-year-old Yorba Linda boy and the rape of his girlfriend by combing her abandoned car for clues and focusing on the dilapidated stucco house where the teens were held hostage for three days before the killing.

Chad MacDonald Jr. was found strangled in a South Los Angeles alley this week after visiting the Norwalk house with his 16-year-old girlfriend on Sunday, Los Angeles County sheriff’s investigators said. As many as three attackers beat the victims and held them captive before killing MacDonald and taking the Yorba Linda teen to the Angeles National Forest, where she was raped, shot in the jaw and left for dead, she told authorities.

Investigators declined to discuss why the Yorba Linda teens went to the Norwalk home described by neighbors and law enforcement officials as the site of suspected drug activity and a hangout for gang members. They also refused to discuss a possible motive for the attack or provide any details about what they discovered during a search of the house on the 14800 block of Halcourt Avenue.

“We’re working through all of that now,” said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Lt. Don Bear, adding that investigators were making progress. “We’re pursuing several possible leads on suspects and we’re guardedly optimistic about wrapping up this case.”

The girl, who managed to flag a passing motorist for help, remained in stable condition late Thursday at Los Angeles County USC Medical Center, investigators said. The teen’s car was found abandoned outside a Baldwin Park fast-food restaurant late Wednesday and authorities immediately began searching it for fingerprints and other clues.

Norwalk Public Safety Department officials said they have received frequent complaints about people hanging out at the Halcourt Avenue home, drinking beer outside and playing loud music. Neighbors said people come and go from the house at all hours of the day and night, and sheriff’s deputies said they have been called to the house six to eight times in the last four years.

Records show the owner of the home has been arrested on suspicion of drunk driving and on a drug-related charge. The owner has also been cited for failing to maintain his property, said city Public Safety Director Kevin Gano. No one answered the door at the house Thursday.

“We’ve received calls in the past from neighbors where they have seen what they thought was suspected drug activity,” Gano said. “We also received calls for what appeared to be gang members hanging out on the front lawn, playing music loudly and drinking beer.”

Any connection MacDonald or his girlfriend might have had to the Halcourt Avenue home or any of its residents remained a mystery to friends and relatives in Yorba Linda, a middle-class suburban community that has been badly shaken by the tragedy.

Tammi Bleu, who shared a class with MacDonald at El Camino Real High School and lives near his girlfriend, described the teens as popular and bright.

“He’s really funny and sweet and really nice,” said Bleu, 16. “And [the girl] is really, really nice . . . so sweet, she would never hurt a fly.”

Said Alicia Ingraham: “Neither one of them deserved it at all.”

Other friends recalled how MacDonald adored his souped-up white truck, taking up two parking spaces whenever possible to avoid any dents or dings. They stopped by his home throughout the day, piling dozens of bouquets of flowers into the bed of his trademark rig.

MacDonald belonged to several car clubs whose members “just drove around . . . to show their cars,” Bleu said. MacDonald poured nearly all of his money from a part-time job into decking out his truck, friends said.

“This was his life,” said Kevin Byrnes, 18, signing a notebook that had been placed on the tailgate. Photographs and letters decorated the truck’s windows and doors; candles burned on the hood and in the bed. One homemade card, held down by a rock with “Chad” painted across its face, had been cut into the shape of a teardrop.

The tragedy comes at an especially painful time of year for the family: MacDonald’s father, Chad MacDonald Sr., died in a drunk-driving crash in Brea exactly 17 years ago Thursday, on March 5, 1981.

The elder MacDonald had a blood-alcohol level above the legal limit and was speeding in a heavy rain when he crashed at Imperial Highway and Kraemer Boulevard, according to police.

Six years later, his widow and son received a $400,000 settlement from the firms that built the intersection, which Cindy Ann MacDonald alleged in court documents were poorly designed and to blame for the crash. She sustained massive internal injuries and some brain damage in the collision, according to the Orange County civil suit.

Several former classmates said MacDonald, an infant at the time of the crash, rarely talked about his father. MacDonald Jr. was a “quiet kid” who excelled in sports and academics for most of his three years at Esperanza High School. Many said they were puzzled when he dropped out of school last year and splintered from his old friends to hang with new ones at El Camino, an alternative school in Placentia.

“We didn’t really know him much anymore. . . . We hardly ever saw him,” said Kristen Sandoval, who fondly recalled MacDonald’s shy laugh. “When we did, he was different. He was with scary guys no one around here knew.”

Records show MacDonald had been cited for various traffic offenses and was fined repeatedly for failing to appear in court or pay the outstanding fines. Last fall, he was convicted of being a minor in possession of alcohol and, on New Year’s Eve, he was cited for driving at an unsafe speed.

“I don’t know what could have gone wrong for him,” said one friend, who requested that his name not be used. “He lost his way or something. He was running on a whole new level.”

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Times staff writers Greg Hernandez and Erika Chavez and correspondents Mimi Ko Cruz and Steve Carney contributed to this report.

Bonnie Hayes can be reached at (714) 966-5848 or at bonnie.hayes@latimes.com