Slaying of Ventura couple may not be random, police say

Detectives investigating the murder of a husband and wife in their beach house near Ventura have drawn no firm conclusions but are leaning toward the possibility that the slayings were not random.

"If we were asked which was the stronger likelihood, it’s that they were targeted -- but we have not ruled out the other possibility,’’ said Capt. Ross Bonfiglio, a spokesman for the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department. Bonfiglio said he could not elaborate without jeopardizing the ongoing investigation.

Brock and Davina Husted, both 42, were stabbed to death by an intruder in their Faria Beach home on May 20 at about 10:30 p.m. The Husteds’ 9-year-old son told police he saw an intruder wearing a motorcycle helmet enter the home through an open patio door and get into a confrontation with his mother in the kitchen and a hallway. Brock Husted, owner of a Santa Barbara wrought-iron company, came to her aid.

The stabbings occurred in a front room of the three-bedroom house and were not directly witnessed by the son, as indicated by earlier police reports. After seeing his parents' bodies, he fled to a neighbor’s house with his 11-year-old sister.

Davina Husted was about five months pregnant. A funeral service is set for Saturday in Ventura. A fund for the children has been set up at 1 West Bank in Camarillo.

-- Steve Chawkins

Photo: Brock and Davina Husted. Credit: Via KTLA-TV

Comments

[kv]

SAD SITUATION BUT I NEVER EVER THOUGHT THESE WERE RANDOM KILLINGS...it is so obvious that someone wanted just these 2 dead...and wasnt there for robbery, the children , the rich neighbors or anything else a usual random thief would be after...

[Tor]

It's the original Night Stalker.

The night before this murder there was a TV show on cable about the ONS. I think it was on A&E.

Specifically refered to the Ventura murder about 10 yrs ago.
Cop talked about how he thinks the killer is still alive even though he hadn't killed for yrs.

As I watched the show, I thought "this guy is camping in the bushes so he can stalk the victims."

I also got the impression that the ONS may have pre-stalked victims in order to come back later and have all the info he needed to make his kill.

Wasn't there a camp site near this house? (I saw that in a previous news report)
That is your big lead. This killer used that camp site in the past. And he stalked these people.

I suspect that TV show brought him back out.
I bet he had stalked that couple or house in the past.
Perhaps before they ever even had the kids.

[Ron]

Brock had problems. He drank.

[Anonymous]

Link Between Ventura County Killings? Woman found stabbed near scene of double murder.

Has anyone connected The Original Night Stalker/East Area Rapist who murdered six people in Southern California from 1979 through 1986.Six murders in Ventura, Dana Point and Irvine, California, have been linked by DNA evidence to the Original Night Stalker. The Original Night Stalker is considered one of the worst serial offenders in California, and American history, and is also connected to at least 50 other rapes in California, and is the most prolific unapprehended serial criminal in history since the Middle Ages.

The EAR-ONS case was the motivating factor in the passage of legislation leading to the establishment of California's DNA database, which authorizes the collection of the DNA of all convicted felons in California. California's DNA data retrieval and storage program is considered by experts to be second only to Virginia's in size and effectiveness in breaking cold cases.

Brock and Davina Husted, both 42, were stabbed to death by an intruder in their Faria Beach home on May 20 at about 10:30 p.m. The Ventura Cnty. Sheriff immediatly developed the theory that they were murdered by a "crazed homeless person." This theory was never explained in detail, and a closer examination reveals some interesting similarities to the ONS. The home was for sale and located near water. Killer had no motive, and used a motorcycle helmet (ONS is known to have used a welder's helmet on at least one occasion during the East Area Rapes.) As in other ONS cases the expensive single-story home was in a gated community adjacent to Hiway 1. No diamond knot was used. But, ONS is known to change his MO, and no ligatures were used in the Maggiore murders (attributed to EAR). And, it is possible that the murderer was confronted by the victims before he had an opportunity to control the scene. Authorities have released virtually no information about the crime scene evidence. As of 5/28/09 the Ventura Cnty. Sheriff is now claiming it was a "random" crime.