Stabbing Victim Escapes in Leap From Ventura Pier

VENTURA â€”  They say a bad day of fishing beats a good day of work any time, but don’t tell that to Dennis Lee Burdett.

The 45-year-old homeless man decided early Monday that he’d try to catch a few calico bass off Ventura Pier.

Police said Burdett’s method of fishing--he was using a trout hook instead of a sturdier saltwater hook--triggered a violent response from another homeless man, 54-year-old Leonard Edward Ezell, who allegedly stabbed Burdett with a knife about 4:30 a.m.

“It’s a very weird incident,� said Ventura Police Det. Quinn Fenwick.

Burdett was stabbed six times before he leaped off the end of the pier in the predawn darkness to escape a man he described as “possessed.�

“He was fine at first,� Burdett said from his hospital bed as a nurse bandaged his sutured wounds. “And then he just said, ‘I know they sent you here to kill me,’ and started stabbing me.�

When police arrived, they said Ezell was covered in Burdett’s blood and waiting on the beach for Burdett’s body to wash ashore.

Police said Ezell then told them that when he saw Burdett use the No. 6 trout hook, he thought Burdett was going to kill him.

Burdett, who said he has been sleeping underneath a Ventura Freeway overpass, said he spent more than 30 minutes struggling to swim to shore, and was eventually caught in a current “delivered by God� that washed him under the pier and onto the beach.

“I was bleeding all over the place, but I made it up to the beach and a guy took me to the Holiday Inn and that’s when the ambulance and the police all arrived,� said Burdett, who was admitted to Ventura County Medical Center and was listed in good condition late Monday.

Although detectives said that Burdett has trouble remembering some facts about the incident--such as the name of a friend who may have witnessed the attack--they said his account of what happened was essentially sound.

Burdett said he and a friend were sleeping under the freeway and about 4 a.m. decided to go fishing.

He said he saw Ezell while walking onto the pier and said hello to him.

“He told me he was 54 and homeless, and then he like followed me out to the end of the pier,� Burdett said.

“I hooked up my leader and put on the bait and then made a cast. It was a real good cast. I had my knife stuck into the wood in the pier and then stuck the end of my pole on the railing and waited.�

That’s when Ezell allegedly grabbed Burdett’s serrated 6-inch fileting knife, stabbing Burdett in the face, arms, chest and back. Burdett fell to the ground and begged him to stop.

Afraid for his life, he jumped into the water.

“I caught onto some pilings and rested for awhile and then the current took me over to the other side of the pier and onto the beach,� Burdett said.

Ezell was booked into the Ventura County Jail late Monday on suspicion of attempted murder. Court records show he has a history of mental problems, served time at Patton State Hospital and has undergone court-ordered psychotherapy in the past three years.