Covert Mission
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From today's LA Times (another crime that would have been prevented with gun bans? NOT! We have a crime problem, not a gun problem.)
Girl Admits Killing Woman on Whim, Rialto Police Say
Violence: Attack is city's third case in 18 months in which a teenager is accused of slaying a senior citizen.
By SCOTT GOLD and PETER Y. HONG, Times Staff Writers
RIALTO--In a chilling confession described Monday by police, a 15-year-old Rialto girl said she clubbed a neighborhood woman to
death on a whim.
According to police, the teenager and another girl, 13, talked their way into the home of 72-year-old Manuela Ramos Fyock on Saturday
evening by asking if they could adopt one of the woman's dozens of cats.
"What do you think? Should I kill this lady?" the 15-year-old asked her friend, according to her statement to police.
Minutes later, police said, the older girl attacked the woman in her bedroom, beating her repeatedly with tools found in the house,
although police declined to specify what kind of implements they were. Fyock's bed was still covered in blood Monday.
The girls left Fyock's house without taking anything and split up, police said. Shortly thereafter, the 13-year-old's mother overheard
her daughter talking about the killing and called 911, police said.
Both girls were arrested Saturday night. The 13-year-old had reportedly gone to a screening of the horror film spoof "Scary Movie."
Investigators stopped the movie to take her into custody.
The older girl, meanwhile, confessed in detail, Rialto Police Lt. Joe Cirilo said, and was "quite matter-of-fact about it," showing no
remorse.
The attack marks the third time in 18 months that a teenager has been accused in the murder of an elderly resident in this small city
in western San Bernardino County.
"It's getting to be younger and younger people committing these crimes," said Helen Jones, a Rialto resident and president of the local
chapter of the American Assn. of Retired People. "We seniors, we're survivors to start with. We grew up trusting people, and now we
can't. It's very sad."
Although authorities plan to charge the older girl today as an adult, officials did not release either suspect's name, citing their ages.
Fyock, an animal lover known to her flock of nieces and nephews as "Tia Nellie," had taken in cats to keep her company since her
husband died in 1976. Family members said Fyock would have been thrilled to find one of the cats a home and probably welcomed the girls
into her house.
"If you can catch one, you can have one," she told the girls, according to the elder suspect's confession, Cirilo said.
A few minutes later, police said, the 15-year-old launched an apparently motiveless attack on a woman relatives say was too frail to
fight back.
'We've seen some pretty bizarre things, but this is right up there," Cirilo said. "I wish we had a motive. I wish I could make some sense
of this. But there is no explanation for it."
San Bernardino County Dist. Atty. Dennis Stout said the 15-year-old could be sent to prison for life. He said her alleged accomplice is
too young to be charged under state law as an adult and will be charged as a juvenile.
The killings have launched a debate in Rialto: Do they constitute a generational divide in crime--a trend of younger residents targeting
the county's burgeoning community of retirees? Or are they isolated incidents?
In January 1999, a 17-year-old boy beat an 85-year-old Rialto woman to death, then set fire to her home to cover his tracks, police
said. Roman Barnes has been convicted of murder, burglary and other charges and is scheduled to be sentenced next month.
A year ago, an 81-year-old Rialto man was shot in the head during a bungled robbery.
Two teenagers have been arrested in that killing.
Girl Admits Killing Woman on Whim, Rialto Police Say
Violence: Attack is city's third case in 18 months in which a teenager is accused of slaying a senior citizen.
By SCOTT GOLD and PETER Y. HONG, Times Staff Writers
RIALTO--In a chilling confession described Monday by police, a 15-year-old Rialto girl said she clubbed a neighborhood woman to
death on a whim.
According to police, the teenager and another girl, 13, talked their way into the home of 72-year-old Manuela Ramos Fyock on Saturday
evening by asking if they could adopt one of the woman's dozens of cats.
"What do you think? Should I kill this lady?" the 15-year-old asked her friend, according to her statement to police.
Minutes later, police said, the older girl attacked the woman in her bedroom, beating her repeatedly with tools found in the house,
although police declined to specify what kind of implements they were. Fyock's bed was still covered in blood Monday.
The girls left Fyock's house without taking anything and split up, police said. Shortly thereafter, the 13-year-old's mother overheard
her daughter talking about the killing and called 911, police said.
Both girls were arrested Saturday night. The 13-year-old had reportedly gone to a screening of the horror film spoof "Scary Movie."
Investigators stopped the movie to take her into custody.
The older girl, meanwhile, confessed in detail, Rialto Police Lt. Joe Cirilo said, and was "quite matter-of-fact about it," showing no
remorse.
The attack marks the third time in 18 months that a teenager has been accused in the murder of an elderly resident in this small city
in western San Bernardino County.
"It's getting to be younger and younger people committing these crimes," said Helen Jones, a Rialto resident and president of the local
chapter of the American Assn. of Retired People. "We seniors, we're survivors to start with. We grew up trusting people, and now we
can't. It's very sad."
Although authorities plan to charge the older girl today as an adult, officials did not release either suspect's name, citing their ages.
Fyock, an animal lover known to her flock of nieces and nephews as "Tia Nellie," had taken in cats to keep her company since her
husband died in 1976. Family members said Fyock would have been thrilled to find one of the cats a home and probably welcomed the girls
into her house.
"If you can catch one, you can have one," she told the girls, according to the elder suspect's confession, Cirilo said.
A few minutes later, police said, the 15-year-old launched an apparently motiveless attack on a woman relatives say was too frail to
fight back.
'We've seen some pretty bizarre things, but this is right up there," Cirilo said. "I wish we had a motive. I wish I could make some sense
of this. But there is no explanation for it."
San Bernardino County Dist. Atty. Dennis Stout said the 15-year-old could be sent to prison for life. He said her alleged accomplice is
too young to be charged under state law as an adult and will be charged as a juvenile.
The killings have launched a debate in Rialto: Do they constitute a generational divide in crime--a trend of younger residents targeting
the county's burgeoning community of retirees? Or are they isolated incidents?
In January 1999, a 17-year-old boy beat an 85-year-old Rialto woman to death, then set fire to her home to cover his tracks, police
said. Roman Barnes has been convicted of murder, burglary and other charges and is scheduled to be sentenced next month.
A year ago, an 81-year-old Rialto man was shot in the head during a bungled robbery.
Two teenagers have been arrested in that killing.
