Boy, 15, Held in Fatal Beating in O.C.

A 15-year-old boy was arrested late Tuesday night on suspicion of breaking into a neighboring home and beating the 72-year-old resident to death, a crime that stunned the residents of the upscale Laguna Niguel neighborhood.

The youth entered the house through an unlocked rear door and -- apparently startled to find Jane Thompson asleep on a couch -- bludgeoned her with a blunt object, Orange County Sheriff’s investigators said.

Despite an intensive search of the shrubbery and groundcover in the neighborhood, investigators said they had not recovered a weapon.

They believe the youth planned to burglarize the home and may be responsible for a break-in a week ago there.

Thompson, a retired Hollywood set designer who lived alone, was discovered Sunday after she failed to meet a friend at a movie theater. Authorities believe she had been dead since Thursday.

The youth, whose name was not released because of his age, is being held at Orange County Juvenile Hall on suspicion of murder, burglary and robbery, said Jim Amormino, spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

The teen will be tried as an adult, authorities said. He is scheduled to be arraigned Friday.

Investigators declined to say how they came to focus on the youth, whose home backs up to Thompson’s residence.

Neighbors said the teenager seemed as surprised by the crime as anyone and watched as detectives pick through the neighborhood looking for clues.

On Monday, investigators found Thompson’s purse tossed into some bushes in the neighborhood, the only item they know of that was taken from the woman’s home.

On Tuesday, investigators got a warrant and searched the youth’s home, but Amormino declined to say what, if anything, was found.

Detectives are investigating whether the boy may have been linked to recent reports of a prowler and several burglaries in the neighborhood, including the one at Thompson’s unit a week before she was killed.

Jewelry and a flashlight were taken in the earlier burglary.

As word of the youth’s arrest spread through the area Wednesday, neighbors and acquaintances alike said they were surprised.

“He just seemed like a good kid,” said Vivian Sliepka, 42, a resident for four years.

The teen attended Niguel Hill Middle School, where he played soccer. The second youngest of four children, he recently dropped out of Dana Hills High School as a freshman, friends said.

He was often seen playing basketball, riding his bike or skateboarding, neighbors said. He also washed neighbors’ cars for extra money.

One friend who said he had known the youth since grade school, described the teen as a nice, outgoing, sports-minded boy who seemed to change in the last year.

Sean Fahy, who lives a few houses down from Thompson’s house, said he was shocked by the boy’s arrest.

He described the youth as polite and friendly.

“He has a basketball hoop that he slides out at the end of his driveway,” Fahy said.

“He shoots baskets every night.”

Mel Brodsky, who said he has lived in the neighborhood for 17 years, said he offered to mentor the youth this spring when he sensed the teen was headed for trouble.

“I said, ‘Listen, I’ve raised two kids and I know it’s hard being a kid these days. If you want, I’ll be your big brother. Just knock on my door.’ ”

He said the youth never took him up on the offer.

Authorities and neighbors were unsure if the boy knew Thompson, a neighborhood favorite who would sit in her driveway in a beach chair while reading the newspaper or a paperback and was a member of a group that regularly strolled around nearby Dana Point Harbor.