Reward Offered : Killing of Boy Spurs Security Moves by Sect

Recoiling from last week’s brutal slaying of a 6-year-old boy, leaders of an Agoura religious commune Wednesday announced a reward to help catch the killer and plans to enclose their isolated canyon compound with a safety fence.

Members of the Vendantic Center said they also hope to pressure Los Angeles County into installing street lights on the canyon road outside the gates to their retreat.

The stabbed body of first-grader Miguel Antero was found April 8 near the Triunfo Canyon Road entrance to the center’s Shanti Anatam retreat. Miguel, who lived at the commune with his family, had disappeared 7 1/2 hours earlier after stepping from a school bus.

Sect spokesman Brahma Johnson said the center is seeking pledges for the reward, which will be set up next week through the office of county Supervisor Mike Antonovich.

Materials, Services Sought

But Johnson said members of the center are appealing for immediate donations of “materials and services” for safety improvements at their 48-acre compound.

He said heavy-duty equipment and manpower are needed “for major land clearing to improve visibility” into the oak-shaded commune along slow-moving Triunfo Creek, south of Westlake Village and Agoura Hills.

The group also seeks donations of six-foot, chain-link fencing, topped with barbed wire to be used to encircle the commune, he said.

The cost of such a fence has been estimated at $50,000, said Johnson, a professional artist who has been a member of the center for five years.

Sect leaders said one company has already volunteered to grade the main driveway into the commune so Las Virgenes Unified School District buses can enter to pick up and let off the 13 children who live at the retreat and attend public schools.

Eastern Philosophy

About 35 people from a dozen families live in scattered cottages at the commune, which was founded 11 years ago by Alice Coltrane, widow of jazz musician John Coltrane. The center follows the teachings of Eastern philosophers and draws upon traditional sacred Indian Vedantic scripture, along with the Bible and Islamic and Buddhist texts.

Coltrane moved the center to the canyon site, about a mile south of the Ventura Freeway, three years ago because of the area’s peaceful isolation, sect leaders said.

Johnson said the improvements would help “in securing the safety of not only the children of the families of the center, but also the children of some hundred families in the Lobo-Triunfo canyon areas.”

He said the slain boy’s father, Shankara Antero, will circulate petitions in the two adjoining canyons calling for installation of street lights and “no loitering” signs along Triunfo Canyon Road.

Hope for ‘Many Thousands’

No cash goal has been set for the reward fund. But Johnson said sect members hope that “many thousands” will be pledged in addition to the $5,000 that the religious group plans to contribute.

“We hope a reward will bring information leading to the arrest and conviction of the perpetrator of the crime against Miguel Antero,” he said.

Johnson said pledges will be sought through Saturday and the reward total will be announced next week. Pledges should be sent to a business owned by a sect member: Dharma, 968-2 Westlake Blvd., Westlake Village 91361. Actual donations will be collected later, he said.

Leeta Pistone, San Fernando Valley field deputy to Antonovich, said her office will set up a reward trust fund at a local bank. She said the reward effort will be coordinated by sheriff’s homicide investigators who are handling the case.

A sheriff’s spokesman said Wednesday that deputies have no suspects.