O.C. Neighbors Walk to Honor Girl’s Memory

The boulder that killed 16-year-old Caitlin Oto last February still lies in her bedroom above the Shadybrook Country Store in Silverado Canyon. Splintered wood and shattered glass litter the ground.

Other than a sign out front that warns “Danger: Keep Out,” the store in the Santa Ana Mountains remains largely unchanged since last year’s mudslides.

But neighbors say nothing else has been the same.

“The whole town has been through an emotional disaster,” said canyon resident Ray Verdugo, who organized a candlelight walk Monday night to mark the first anniversary of Caitlin’s death. “Everything has changed.”

Residents of tightknit Silverado have raised about $25,000 for Caitlin’s parents, whose store was shut down after the mudslides. Monday’s vigil was intended to raise money to build a memorial -- a rock etched with a picture of Caitlin -- in front of the store.

“When something happens to one person here, it happens to all of us,” said Sara Kazarian, 20, a longtime canyon resident.

With a population of about 1,400, the canyon is home to a number of families who put down roots generations ago. Caitlin’s death hit hard in a place where neighborhood kids still wash cars and mow lawns for candy bars, and “everybody knows when you sneeze,” Kazarian said.

“It was hard for the canyon to lose a girl,” said Justine Wyngaarden,15, who was Caitlin’s friend and lived two houses away. “People were just breaking down.”

Caitlin’s parents, Jennifer Oto and Stephen Carter, lived with their daughter in an apartment above the store and have since moved to a house nearby.

A letter from them hangs outside the store. “Caitlin loved with grace, died with dignity and now is in the hands of God,” it reads.

Neighbors have added their sentiments with permanent markers on concrete blocks that line the store’s front.

One reads “One of Silverado’s finest teens is greatly missed and will be remembered forever.”

During the vigil Monday evening, the family’s attorney said a civil lawsuit had been filed against the owner of the property above the family’s store where the mudslide originated.

At El Modena High School in Orange, where Caitlin was a junior, friends set up a memorial and taped pictures of her to their lockers.

In elementary school, Caitlin and Justine set up a Crystal Light stand in town -- because they didn’t have real lemonade -- and sold cups for 25 cents each.

“I’d go over to her house and we’d play,” said Justine, whose family was forced from their home after the mudslide, but have since returned.

Outside the store stands a small statue of an angel reading a book.

Neighbors say Caitlin loved to read. Her books went to Kayla, 12, and Madison Anderson, 9, who live across the street.

Madison said her family was camping when they heard about Caitlin’s death.

“I cried all the way home,” she said.

Monday’s vigil won’t be the last time neighbors gather in memory of Caitlin.

Verdugo, whose daughter worked at the country store, said he was organizing an even larger fundraiser to help Caitlin’s parents repair their home and business.

“These people have lost their daughter, their business, their home,” he said. “Everything’s gone.”