Mysteries Surrounding Murders May Be Unraveled

In La Crescenta, an idyllic, close-knit bedroom community nestled between the San Gabriel and Verdugo mountains, the discovery of the bloody, battered bodies of two boys at a schoolyard could not have been more shocking.

Christopher McCulloch, 13, and Blaine Talmo Jr., 14, had been bludgeoned beyond recognition--their bodies sprawled on the playground of Valley View Elementary School.

Two area teenagers, then five other youths, were arrested in connection with the slayings, which investigators said were probably carried out by more than one person. But so far prosecutors have filed murder charges against 15-year-old Michael Hrayr Demirdjian only.

Now, eight months after the crime, the mysteries central to the deaths of Blaine and Christopher come tantalizingly closer to being solved, with Demirdjian’s trial set to open today in Pasadena Superior Court.

Who killed the two boys, and why?

Deputy Dist. Attys. Steve Barshop and Truc Do contend that Demirdjian killed the boys during a robbery. They plan to present an array of evidence featuring some of law enforcement’s most cutting-edge sleuthing, from computer forensics to “sniff” identifications made by sharp-nosed dogs.

Demirdjian, who if convicted faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without possibility of parole, has steadfastly maintained he did not commit the murders but only witnessed them.

“My client saw the murder happen. He was there. It scared the bejesus out of him,” said defense attorney Charles T. Mathews. “My client didn’t kill or hurt either boy.”

Demirdjian will testify, Mathews said. The boy has already told police that a 19-year-old killed Blaine and Christopher--allegations that prosecutors say aren’t supported by the evidence.

The man accused by Demirdjian is not a suspect, prosecutors said. “The overwhelming evidence will show that [Demirdjian’s allegations] are preposterous,” said prosecutor Do.

However, four other teenagers--three 18-year-old La Crescenta men and a 17-year-old Montrose girl--are now also murder suspects, according to recently unsealed court documents. In an odd twist, prosecutors said the four have admitted to conspiracy to kidnap the 19-year-old man who Demirdjian claims is the killer.

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None of them has been charged. “We have to have corroborating evidence,” said Sgt. Rick Young, spokesman for the Glendale Police Department. “It’s an ongoing criminal investigation.”

If called to testify, all four are expected to invoke the 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination, prosecutors said. In interviews with police, the four teenagers--who said they knew Demirdjian--alleged they were on a trip to Palm Springs the night Blaine and Christopher were killed.

Among the 25 witnesses that prosecutors intend to call for the trial, expected to last about two weeks, are dog handlers for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, and a Glendale police investigator who searched Demirdjian’s computer hard drive.

Aided by a software program called Encase, the Glendale investigator reportedly found photos of a man choking a boy that echo how the victims were attacked. Demirdjian’s computer also allegedly contained a violent poem that had been downloaded from the Internet. One stanza of the poem, whose author is unknown, explicitly refers to dropping a big rock on a person’s head, which is how the victims died.

Together, the photos and the poem reflect Demirdjian’s intent and state of mind when committing the murders, prosecutors allege.

Also integral to the prosecution’s case will be olfactory evidence detected by police dogs. A bloodhound named Scarlett eventually led police from the crime scene to Demirdjian’s front door, prosecutors said. Inside, police found blood that matched Christopher’s DNA and a wallet that belonged to Blaine.

More controversial will be the presentation of scent lineups--the use of which in trial is an untested area of California law.

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After sniffing the scent collected from a rock believed to have been a murder weapon, a chocolate Labrador named Reilly picked Demirdjian’s odor out of a lineup of pads containing the odors of potential suspects. In other sniff tests, Reilly identified the scents of two of the four other teenage suspects from odor evidence collected from the crime scene, prosecutors say.

To show robbery as a motive, prosecutors intend to display grisly photos of the victims just as they were found, with their pants pockets turned inside out as if someone had searched and emptied them.

As for the defense, Mathews has indicated he will argue that the dog-sniffing evidence is unreliable and cannot be trusted.

Potential witnesses, who may or may not be called, have told police in various interviews that they think the crime was drug- or gang-related.

Demirdjian had ties to the notorious Crips gang, according to police. The victims as well as the defendant had also been experimenting with drugs, those who knew them said.

One mystery may only deepen when the 19-year-old accused by Demirdjian as the killer makes his appearance at the trial. The man has already indicated that he will refuse to testify as a witness by invoking the 5th Amendment, according to attorneys on both sides.

But Mathews said he plans to bring the man into court anyway, so that the jury can get a good, long look at him, even if he says nothing.

“He’ll be an exhibit,” Do said.