Teen accused of quadruple homicide in Reedley enters plea. Will he be tried as adult?
The 17-year-old accused of a quadruple killing in Reedley appeared before a Fresno County Juvenile Justice Center judge on Thursday.
The teen appeared in the courtroom of Judge Virna L. Santos wearing a purple T-shirt and dark blue sweat pants with bushy hair cropped close near his ears down. Santos denied a media request to photograph the teen, whom the judge identified with the initials R.I.
He’s been charged by the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office with murder in the mass killing of four family members who were first discovered Saturday in a home in southern Reedley.
He did not appear to speak to anyone except for a Fresno County Probation employee to enter a denial of the charges — the equivalent of a “not guilty” plea in adult court.
Several relatives of the teen were in the room, including his mother, Brynn Curtis, 34, who herself has been accused of accessory after the fact in the killings, and grandmother and aunt.
Petition to try teen as adult
The judge acknowledged the petition by prosecutors to try the teen as an adult, but did not take any arguments on the issue Thursday.
A DA’s spokesperson said that decision was up to the judge and would be heard at a later undetermined court date.
The judge determined the teen would no longer be under the care of his mother or other guardian, and instead would be a ward of the Fresno County Probation Department.
If the court allows R.I. to be tried as an adult, he would face the potential for life in prison without the possibility of parole. The death penalty would be off the table, a spokesperson for the DA said.
He had not yet been appointed an attorney, and remained in the juvenile hall.
The 17-year-old was arrested Tuesday by Reedley police after trying to flee on foot, Reedley police said. Officers served a search warrant at his home, which was one door over from the home where police found the bodies of three adults who had been killed.
A fourth victim was discovered before the teen was arrested Tuesday in the detached garage of the home where the teen lived.
The victims were identified as Billy Bond, 81, his 61-year-old son, Darrell, 43-year-old grandson, Matthew, and 44-year-old granddaughter-in-law, Guadalupe. All four lived in the home next door to the teen’s home.
Matthew Bond was the victim found in the detached garage.
Police said this week investigators have not ruled out that other suspects may have been involved in the crimes. All four family members were killed violently, but police have not so far described how, citing a need to protect the investigation.
Police had not determined what immediately preceded the violence, Reedley Chief Jose Garza said Wednesday.
“In my 30 plus years of doing this, it’s one of the most heinous crimes that I’ve ever been involved in,” he said. “My heart goes out to the family.”
Matthew Bond was known to associate with the teen, Garza said Wednesday.
The original call to 911
Police initially went Saturday to a home in the 1100 block of South Church Avenue south of Dinuba Avenue after a reported break-in, police said.
Officers did not find anyone home when they got there, police said. As they began to investigate the backyard, they noticed a tarp before discovering the first two victims.
Police said they found a safe inside the home that had been pried open and was completely empty. It was known to hold guns, money and some other items that belonged to Billy Bond, and may have been a motive behind the crimes, they said.
Rafael Gonzalez, 21, Curtis’s boyfriend who lived with her and the teen, was also arrested and accused by police of accessory after the fact.
Both Curtis and Gonzalez had bonded out of Fresno County Jail by Wednesday, according to Reedley police.
The judge set the next hearing for Feb. 15.
