Two California teenagers were charged with murder after allegedly stomping a 66-year-old man to death as he slept outside a church, prosecutors say.
The Ventura County District Attorney’s Office charged the 14 and 15-year-old boys with the murder of Davy Glen Pichel following a violent encounter on June 4.
According to a news release, a church volunteer found Pichel’s body on June 5 outside St. Anthony’s Catholic Church in Oxnard. When paramedics arrived, they pronounced him dead at the scene.
Prosecutors say that church surveillance footage captured Pichel’s last moments alive. The video reportedly showed Pichel as he was seated near the church door next to his wheelchair when the teens approached him, then beat and stomped him.
They walked away, but returned a short time later to take turns stomping him again, the release states. After briefly walking away again, they returned one final time and repeatedly stomped him.
During that final attack, the teens also removed and took part of Pichel’s clothing, then fled the scene.
The next morning, a church volunteer called local police after finding Pichel next to the church, partially unclothed, with significant injuries to his head and facial area.
The teens are currently being detained at a juvenile facility.
They appeared for their court arraignment on June 10, but at the request of their attorneys, the hearing was continued to June 24.
The district attorney’s office told Law&Crime that the boys are currently facing charges in juvenile court.
The case bears similarities to another violent stomping death out of Washington, D.C., where five teenage girls were charged and convicted of beating a 64-year-old physically disabled man to death.
Authorities say that the girls, who were between the ages of 12 and 15 at the time of the attack, chased the man into an alley where they beat, punched, and stomped him to death. They also filmed the assault, and one of the girls bragged about it to her friends.
