Attacker Sought as Chef Hurt, Son Slain

A 44-year-old woman recently released from jail attacked her ex-boyfriend and fatally stabbed his 13-year-old son in their Mission Viejo condo early Friday morning, then fled, leaving a three-mile trail of blood, authorities said.

Alex Weber, who would have been an eighth-grader this fall at Los Alisos Intermediate School, was found dead in his bedroom after his father, well-known chef Jean Marc Weber, 45, crawled to a neighbor’s house to ask for help, Orange County sheriff’s deputies said.

Weber was in serious condition at Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo, said Sheriff’s Department spokesman Jim Amormino.

Deputies described Tamara Kay Bohler as a 6-foot, 180-pound woman with blond hair and blue eyes, last seen wearing a sleeveless yellow blouse and cutoff denim shorts. Officials said she was injured in the struggle, and described her as armed and dangerous.

Dogs tracked drops of Bohler’s blood, which they marked with orange traffic cones, from the condo complex south to an entrance of the Shops at Mission Viejo, where it abruptly ended. Authorities said they believe someone picked her up at the mall.

“It’s almost like she disappeared into thin air,” said sheriff’s Lt. Lloyd Downing. “We have some concerns that in her condition she is likely to injure someone else.”

A neighbor in the 26200 block of Devonshire called police about 3:45 a.m. Friday, Amormino said. Deputies arrived at the condo and found overturned furniture and blood in several rooms. “It was a gruesome scene,” Amormino said. “It was obviously a very violent confrontation.”

Late Friday afternoon, a knife remained near the doorway of Weber’s next-door neighbor, who said she heard him screaming, “No! No! No!” early in the morning. Orange County Sheriff’s Lt. Larry Abbott confirmed that both father and son were stabbed with a knife.

Bohler had been released from jail as recently as June 20, authorities said, but declined to elaborate about where and why she was incarcerated. Neighbors and co-workers of Weber said the pair dated and lived together a couple of years ago.

Weber has been the executive chef at the California Club, a private social establishment in downtown Los Angeles, for 13 years. Fellow employees said he rarely talks about his personal life.

Born in France and trained in Europe for eight years, Weber also was an executive chef at Hotel Le Meridien (now Sutton Place Hotel) in Newport Beach, the Mondrian on the Sunset Strip and Excelsior in Beverly Hills

Alex and his older teenage sister, whose name was not released, lived with their mother, Diane, in Mission Viejo during the week and stayed with their father on weekends. The girl had stayed with friends Thursday night, Amormino said.

Family and friends gathered at the home of Alex’s mother Friday to reminisce about him, eating spaghetti while gathered in the kitchen and living room. She was too overcome to speak.

Some of Alex’s friends, including Jordan Stoenescu, 12, biked to the crime scene Friday. Jordan and Alex had arranged Thursday night that the next morning they would engage in their weekend ritual: meet at 8:30 a.m., bike down to a doughnut store and buy two custard-filled sweets each, then go to a gas station to buy something to drink. The rest of the day they would do tricks on their bikes, said Jordan, a seventh-grader.

“That’s all we did: ride bikes, go over bumps and have fun,” Jordan said, standing outside the area cordoned off with yellow crime tape. “He could do all kinds of tricks.” He paused, then added: “I can’t believe I lost him for no reason. I can’t believe my friend’s dead.”

When Alex’s father was dating Bohler, the boy had often argued with her for trying to act too much like a mother to him -- ordering him to do homework or come to the table, Jordan said.

But Alex adored his father, Jordan said. The pair went fishing and cooked together, and Alex often told Jordan he wanted to be just like his father when he grew up.

Newspaper publisher Jerry White hired Alex a month ago to hand-deliver the Ladera Ranch News each week to 500 doorsteps. Thursday was the boy’s fourth shift delivering papers, an eight-hour stint that earned him $50 -- money he told White he planned to save to buy something for his family.

Alex’s high energy made him stand out from other boys his age, White said, and after being hired he often offered suggestions to improve the routes. “He was really a charming, gregarious and well-motivated kid. A real innovator kind of guy.”

Chris Saalberg, 37, a first-grade teacher who lives around the corner from the Webers, said people in the neighborhood mostly keep to themselves. In the five years that he has lived in the woodsy cluster of two-story townhomes, the worst crime he has seen is mail fraud.

“This is a really nice neighborhood,” he said, standing outside the cordoned-off area. “I mean, nothing like this ever happens.”

*

Times staff writers Ashley Powers and Jack Leonard contributed to this report.