500 Mourn Slain Teen; 3rd Suspect Named

Chad Allan MacDonald Jr. was buried Monday, following an emotional service marked with some laughter, many tears and a degree of relief that two of his alleged killers have been caught and a third suspect is being sought by authorities.

“Chad did not deserve the brutal and hateful death that he suffered,” said his cousin, Peter Camarata, speaking at the service on behalf of the family. “Chad is a victim of our lost and corrupt society.”

The memorial service, attended by more than 500 relatives and friends, came as Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department investigators obtained an arrest warrant for Jose A. Ibarra, 19, a Norwalk resident wanted on suspicion of kidnapping, extortion and murder.

Two other Norwalk residents, Michael L. Martinez, 21, and Florence L. Noriega, 28, were arrested in a Las Vegas motel on Fremont Street late Saturday after the stolen Chevrolet El Camino they had been driving was found in the motel parking lot, officials said.

They were booked into the Clark County Detention Center for investigation of murder. Two firearms--a 9-millimeter handgun and a .22-caliber rifle--were found inside the room, officials said.

Extradition proceedings for the two could begin as early as today, when they are scheduled to appear before a Las Vegas judge. Officials were hopeful both will waive extradition rights, enabling them to be returned to Los Angeles County within five days, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Lt. Frank Merriman said. “We’ve heard they are leaning toward signing” a waiver of their rights to an extradition hearing, he said.

MacDonald’s body was found dumped in a South Los Angeles alley last Wednesday, three days after he and his 16-year-old girlfriend, also from Yorba Linda, went to a house in Norwalk where the suspects had been staying, sheriff’s officials said. An autopsy revealed that he had been strangled.

Two men and a woman held the teens captive for days before killing MacDonald, 17, and taking the girl to the Angeles National Forest, where she said she was raped repeatedly, shot in the jaw and left for dead. The girl managed to flag down a passing motorist for help and remained in stable condition late Monday.

“She was lucky, lucky,” Merriman said. “It is amazing she made it out alive.”

Records show all three suspects have either been arrested or convicted on drug charges.

Noriega, whose father owns the Norwalk house on Halcourt Avenue, has been repeatedly convicted of drug charges since 1988. In 1991, she was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon and, two years later, for prostitution. She was arrested four weeks ago and was scheduled to be in court next week on charges of “possession of a firearm by a narcotics addict.”

Law enforcement sources said Martinez, who is suspected of shooting MacDonald’s girlfriend, has been arrested five times in three Los Angeles County cities on drug possession charges, most involving methamphetamine. Ibarra has been arrested at least once on similar charges by sheriff’s deputies in Norwalk.

Sheriff’s officials declined to say what evidence linked the three suspects to the slaying and rape, or why MacDonald went to the Norwalk home in the first place. He apparently called his girlfriend to pick him up at the house, which has been described by city officials and neighbors as a frequent site of drug activity.

At Monday’s services for MacDonald, mourners didn’t dwell on the details of the tragedy, but instead focused on their fond memories of the victim’s devotion to his souped-up truck and his ability to make them all laugh.

“I know so many hearts are breaking today,” Camarata said.

A steady stream of MacDonald’s friends stood before a microphone at the front of Yorba Linda Friends Church to pay tribute to the teenager.

Childhood friend Mike Murphy, who lived next door to MacDonald while growing up, brought some moments of levity to a somber occasion with funny remembrances spoken through tears.

“His mom went through two or three housekeepers a month because of Chad,” Murphy said, drawing a laugh from the crowd.

But he lamented the fact that the two had not been as close in recent years.

“I’m feeling really bad right now,” he said, choked with emotion. “I just want to say I love you Chad and I’m going to miss you.”

The victim’s popularity among his peers was evident from the hundreds of grieving friends at the service, but it was also apparent that he had not been in close contact with many of his childhood friends in recent years, hanging out more with his car club friends.

“He brought a lot of friends together today,” said one tearful female teen. “I wish he was here to enjoy it.”

Another friend, who declined to give her name, said the teenager was determined to graduate from high school. MacDonald and his girlfriend had attended Esperanza High School in Anaheim, but he had recently transferred to an alternative school.

“The one thing on his mind was to graduate because he felt that would make his mom happiest,” she said. “He felt he wasn’t doing right and wasn’t a good example to his brothers.”

Another unidentified friend, saying he was speaking on behalf of MacDonald’s wounded girlfriend said, “I’m just here to say goodbye to you Chad because she can’t be here to say that she loves you forever.”

His uncle, Chris Saroli, said the funeral was “sad but happy because we know Chad is with his father again--a father he never got to know.”

In a sad irony, Chad MacDonald Sr. was buried on March 9, 1981, four days after dying in a drunk-driving crash in Brea. His son was less than a year old at the time.

Camarata said the family is grateful to law enforcement officials for making two arrests and naming a third suspect in connection with MacDonald’s murder. He also said the family has been overwhelmed by the many people who have visited or sent flowers in recent days.

“He loved his friends, but most of all he loved his family,” the cousin said. “He will be deeply and painfully missed.”

Family spokesman Lloyd Charton acknowledged that MacDonald’s life may have taken some troubling turns.

“The family is determined to see how an all-American boy, a gifted athlete and a loving son encountered these troubles at the end of his life,” Charton said.