Boys’ Bludgeoned Bodies Found at School

Two teenage boys were beaten to death on a deserted schoolyard in La Crescenta, and residents were in shock Monday that something so brutal could befall their tranquil neighborhood.

The bludgeoned, barely recognizable bodies of the boys, ages 13 and 14, were found on a playground behind Valley View Elementary School late Sunday next to a blood-splattered slide and a broken concrete bench that apparently had been used to kill them, Glendale police said.

Though the crime took place within shouting distance of several homes, neighbors reported hearing nothing, said Chahe Keuroghelian, a Glendale police spokesman. Detectives believe the boys were killed on the campus between Friday afternoon and Sunday morning, but their bodies weren’t discovered until Sunday night when a man who was watering his lawn saw the pair on the schoolyard and thought they were sleeping.

“This is a very unsettling crime, especially because these kids were so young,” said Vic Pallos, a spokesman for the Glendale Unified School District. “We really have no idea what happened.”

Police released few details of their investigation, but said preliminary interviews indicated the killings were not random. Nor was it a case of indiscriminate gang or race-related violence, Keuroghelian said.

“These boys were targeted,” he said, without elaborating. “There is not a child killer on the loose.”

Authorities have not released the names of the boys but family members confirmed the victims were Blaine Talmo, 14, of Glendale, and 13-year-old Chris McCulloch, of La Crescenta, who had been reported missing Sunday.

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Both boys had been eighth-graders at Rosemont Middle School in La Crescenta, said the school’s principal, Mabel Morris, and would have been freshmen at Crescenta Valley High School in September.

The boys, close friends, were skateboarding types who favored big, baggy shorts, wore their hair shaved and had a large circle of friends who were shattered with grief Monday afternoon.

“I can’t believe this happened to them,” said 15-year-old Brittany Watts. “They were so cute.”

Blaine grew up in Glendale. His father, a Los Angeles County sheriff’s sergeant, confirmed his son had been killed but declined further comment.

Chris was born in Scotland and came to the Los Angeles area when he was 6, said his stepfather, Scott Bristow.

“He was just an average kid who liked to play with his skateboard,” Bristow said.

Police said it was not clear why the two were on the elementary campus, which is in the La Crescenta area of Glendale and is locked during weekends and ringed by high chain-link fences. There are no classes there this summer, though a day care center is being operated at the location at 4900 Maryland Ave.

On Sunday, about 8 p.m., Frank Hoogenhuizen, a former cemetery manager who lives behind the school, spotted the bodies lying near a slide as he was watering his backyard. One boy was lying face up, the other face down.

“I thought they were asleep,” Hoogenhuizen said.

When they didn’t respond to his yells, he called police. The area of the schoolyard where the bodies were found is not visible from any street and is separated from a row of homes by a fence and a wall.

Patrol officers responded within minutes and soon the campus, nestled in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, was crawling with dozens of detectives, evidence technicians, coroner’s officials and school administrators. Residents of the middle-class neighborhood with 1950s-era homes and tidy, “Leave it to Beaver”-type streets were kept awake by the thunder of police chopper blades and the glow of red and blue police lights.

Citing evidence including large quantities of blood on the ground and splattered on a slide, detectives determined the boys had been killed in the schoolyard, Keuroghelian said. Also, police said it appeared a concrete bench was one of the weapons used.

Police have not identified anyone as a suspect and have refused to discuss their investigation, which involves most of the homicide detectives of the 225-officer Glendale Police Department.

Valley View Elementary is not known as a trouble spot. Save a few determined skateboarders who aren’t supposed to be there, few people hang around the school, neighbors and police said.

“That schoolyard is very quiet,” said Chuck Sambar, a Glendale Board of Education member who lives a few blocks away. “It’s in a sleepy neighborhood. Nothing like this has happened up here. Ever.”

The brutal nature of the crime and the fact that it involved two children sent chills among many residents who live near the school.

“This is really scary,” said Jodi Fitzgibbons, a Valley View teacher who lives near the school and is the mother of two young children. “Crime isn’t supposed to come up here. We’re all in shock.”

Glendale school officials said they planned to hold a number of meetings to discuss safety procedures and would work closely with police to help identify suspects.

Friends described Blaine Talmo as a quiet boy, into skateboarding and grunge rock. The walls of his room were papered with posters of the band Korn, said David Hong, 14, a neighbor and friend.

“Everybody knew him,” David said. “He laughed a lot.”

But David also said Blaine was something of a follower.

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Chris McCulloch was popular and generous, his friends said, although they said he had begun hanging out with a progressively rougher and tougher crowd.

On Monday afternoon, the lawn in front of a La Crescenta house became a street-side, teenage memorial service as Chris’ friends gathered to cry and hug.

“Chris was real nice,” said 13-year-old David Rivera, one of the 20 friends there. “He never did anything to anybody. I don’t know how somebody could do that.”

Biruta Pachucka, 14, was among dozens of students Monday arriving in carloads, many with parents, adding to a makeshift memorial at Valley View School.

Biruta and her mother dropped off a bouquet of red roses, laying them gently on the sidewalk in front of a chain-link fence cordoned off with yellow police tape.

The blond youngster, wearing a black shirt and bluejean shorts, recalled growing up with Chris, riding bikes together, then as they got older, hanging out at a Round Table Pizza.

“He’s been my best friend since fifth grade,” Biruta said. “He was like a brother to me. He protected me from things. He’s a sweet guy. He was always nice to me.”

Biruta said she had met Chris’ aunt from Scotland and that his biological father also lives in Scotland, as his mother once did.

Groups of teens hugged one another, many sobbing. One parent attached a note to a spring bouquet of flowers: “Two boys with God. Our hearts go with you.”

A mother who also served as a noon teacher’s aide, said she knew both boys.

“You raise kids for 13, 14 years and in one second . . . ,” said Juliette Zadoorian, her voice trailing off. “I couldn’t believe it. It doesn’t make sense.”

Times staff writers Andrew Blankstein, Solomon Moore and Edgar Sandoval contributed to this story.