2 Teenage Boys’ Bludgeoned Bodies Found in Schoolyard

Two teenage boys were beaten to death in a deserted schoolyard in La Crescenta in what police described Monday as a targeted attack.

The bludgeoned, barely recognizable bodies of the boys, ages 13 and 14, were found on a playground behind Valley View Elementary School late Sunday, next to a blood-splattered slide and broken concrete bench that apparently had been used to kill them, Glendale police said.

Although the crime took place within shouting distance of several homes, no neighbors reported hearing anything, said Chahe Keuroghelian, a Glendale police spokesman. Detectives believe the boys were killed on the campus between Friday afternoon and Sunday morning, but the bodies were not discovered until Sunday night when a man who was watering his lawn saw the boys and at first thought they were sleeping.

“These boys were targeted,” Keuroghelian said, but he would not elaborate. “There is not a child killer on the loose.”

Police released few details of their investigation, but said preliminary interviews indicated the killings were not random. Nor was it a case of indiscriminate gang or race-related violence, Keuroghelian said.

Authorities have not released the names of the boys but family members confirmed that the victims were Blaine Talmo, 14, of Glendale, and 13-year-old Chris McCulloch of La Crescenta, who had been reported missing Sunday.

Both boys had finished eighth grade at Rosemont Middle School in La Crescenta, said the school’s principal, Mabel Morris, and were expected to be freshmen at Crescenta Valley High School in September.

“This is a very unsettling crime, especially because these kids were so young,” said Vic Pallos, a spokesman for the Glendale Unified School District. “We really have no idea what happened.”

The boys, close friends, were skateboarders who favored big, baggy shorts, shaved their hair and had a large circle of friends.

Blaine grew up in Glendale. His father is a sheriff’s sergeant.

Chris was born in Scotland and came to the Los Angeles area when he was 6, said his stepfather, Scott Bristow.

“He was just an average kid who liked to play with his skateboard,” Bristow said.

Police said it is not clear why the two were on the elementary school campus, which is in the La Crescenta area of Glendale and is locked during weekends and ringed by tall chain-link fences. There are no classes there this summer, although a day care is being operated at the location, 4900 Maryland Ave.

At about 8 p.m. Sunday, Frank Hoogenhuizen, who lives behind the school, spotted the bodies near a slide. One boy was lying face up, the other face down.

When they didn’t respond to his shouts, he called police. The area is not visible from any street and is separated from a row of homes by a fence and a wall.

Soon the campus, in the San Gabriel foothills, was crowded with dozens of detectives, evidence technicians, coroner’s officials and school administrators. Residents were kept awake by the thunder of police helicopters and the glow of red and blue police lights.

Citing evidence that includes large quantities of blood on the ground and the slide, detectives determined that the boys had been killed in the school yard, Keuroghelian said. Police said it appeared the concrete bench was one of the weapons.

Police have not identified any suspects and refused to discuss their investigation, which involves most of the homicide detectives of the 225-officer Glendale Police Department.

Valley View Elementary is not known as a trouble spot. Except for some determined skateboarders who aren’t supposed to be there, few people hang around the school, neighbors and police say.

“That schoolyard is very quiet. It’s in a sleepy neighborhood,” said Chuck Sambar, a Glendale Board of Education member who lives a few blocks away. “Nothing like this has happened up here. Ever.”

The brutal nature of the crime and the fact that it involved two children just out of middle school sent chills through many who live near the school.

“This is really scary,” said Jodi Fitzgibbons, a Valley View teacher, a neighbor of the school and mother of two young children. “Crime isn’t supposed to come up here. We’re all in shock.”

Friends described Blaine Talmo as a quiet kid fond of skateboarding and grunge rock. The walls of his room were papered with posters of the band Korn, said David Hong, 14, a neighbor and friend.

Chris McCulloch was popular and generous, his friends said, although they they said he had begun hanging out with a rougher crowd.

On Monday afternoon, Biruta Pachucka, 14, was among dozens of students arriving in carloads, many with parents, adding to a makeshift memorial at the elementary school.

Biruta and her mother brought a bouquet of red roses, laying them gently on the sidewalk in front of a chain-link fence cordoned off with yellow police tape.

Biruta recalled growing up with Chris, riding bikes and as they got older, hanging out at Round Table Pizza.

“He’s been my best friend since fifth grade,” Biruta said. “He was like a brother to me. He protected me from things. He’s a sweet guy. He was always nice to me.”

Times staff writers Andrew Blankstein, Solomon Moore and Edgar Sandoval contributed to this story.