| Notes |
- Widow Sues Fire Agencies
Driver (Richard Blood) was killed last year in Big Bar Complex camp
Alex Breitler
Record Searchlight
(Published Nov 1, 2000)
The widow of a slain bus driver is suing the state, claiming officialsdidn't properly secure the Shasta County fire camp in which herhusband was stabbed to death last year.
Shirley Blood's husband, 63-year-old Richard Eugene Blood of Caldwell,Idaho, was found dead Oct. 29, 1999, in the rear of a bus he used totransport fire crews to a blaze in Trinity County. No arrests havebeen made.
The lawsuit, filed in Shasta County Superior Court on Oct. 26, claimssecurity officials failed to prevent some crew members from drinkingalcohol, taking drugs, fighting and entering off-limits parts of theShasta District Fair grounds fire camp.
It also claims officials didn't adequately patrol and guard the camp,including the perimeter, leaving Blood subject to an "unreasonablerisk of harm."
State officials "didn't do what they were supposed to do in terms ofproviding a secure area for the drivers," Redding lawyer Dugan Barrsaid Tuesday.
Named as defendants are three state agencies, including the Departmentof Food and Agriculture, the Division of Fairs and Expositions and theCalifornia Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF). Fiftyindividuals whom the plaintiffs have not yet identified are alsomentioned.
A CDF spokeswoman in Sacramento did not return a phone call seekingcomment Tuesday.
Blood's body was found by fellow bus drivers. He had been stabbedmultiple times. Police have said little about the crime for fear ofcompromising the investigation.
But the killing appeared to have something to do with Blood's job as afire crew bus driver and doesn't look like a random act, Andersonpolice Lt. Clancy Finmand has said.
Investigators traveled twice to undisclosed locations in the Southwestto interview firefighters, but no suspects have emerged.
Shirley Blood and the couple's two grown children, Richard E. Blood IIand Janan Heppler, all of Caldwell, Idaho, filed the suit after aclaim was rejected by the state in June. The lawsuit seeks anunspecified amount of money.
Since no charges have been filed in the murder case, police reportsdetailing the crime have not been released. The allegations in thecivil suit stem primarily from conversations with witnesses and otherpeople involved, Barr said.
Meanwhile, the large number of "John Doe" defendants will likelyshrink once more information becomes available, Barr said.
"It's very unclear who was in charge down there," he said.
Hundreds of firefighters from several Western states spent two monthsat the camp while fighting the Big Bar Complex in Trinity County. Atthe time of the killing, the blaze had slowed and firefighters weregetting ready to leave.
The day before Blood was found dead, some crew members became angrywith him when he did not transport them to a certain location at thefire, Barr said.
"They wanted him to drive all the way in, and he wouldn't do that orcouldn't do that," Barr said. "There had been some hostility expressedtoward him."
Blood may have told security officials about the disagreement, Barrsaid.
The next day, the lawsuit alleges, at least one person entered the bus— an area off-limits to fire crew members — and stabbed Blood while heslept.
The lawsuit also alleges some of the fire crew members had "a knownhistory of . . . illegal, dangerous and/or violent behavior."
At the fire camp, that behavior may have included alcohol consumptionand marijuana and methamphetamine use, Barr said.
Finmand said police weren't aware of any reports of drug use byfirefighters.
Reporter Alex Breitler can be reached at 225-8344 or atabreitler@redding.com.
Wednesday, November 1, 2000
LOCAL NEWS: The Sacramento Bee
Probe of Shasta killing leads to slain suspect
By Ted Bell
Bee Staff Writer
(Published April 3, 2001)
In a bizarre twist to a bizarre mystery, Anderson police officersMonday said they believe they have finally tracked down the killer ofa fire crew bus driver who was slain in October 1999.
The suspect was himself killed by police at the San Carlos ApacheIndian Reservation in Arizona last month.
According to Anderson Police Detective Sgt. Glenn Tuschen, RichardEugene Blood, 63, was found stabbed to death in the back of a firecrew transport bus in a parking lot of the Shasta DistrictFairgrounds.
Blood, from Caldwell, Idaho, worked for Special Operations Group, ofCody, Wyo., a private company that specializes in providing servicesfor fire and disaster personnel.
There were more than 400 people in the temporary camp, set up whenfires were sweeping thousands of nearby acres.
The following month, Anderson detectives went to the San Carlosreservation to follow some leads. At that time, they took a bloodsample from Steve Victor, 27, who had been a crew chief of the unit offirefighters that Blood had been ferrying.
Tuschen said that by the end of last year it became apparent some ofthe blood found at the scene belonged to Victor, and Anderson officersasked the FBI for help in finding Victor.
On March 7, the FBI office in Phoenix called Anderson to say thatVictor had been killed by police on the reservation the day before.
Tuschen said the story he was told had Victor attending an uncle'swake and, for reasons unknown, he began stabbing himself in theabdomen. Police were called and Victor allegedly attacked a policesergeant with the knife and was fatally shot.
The night before Blood's slaying, Victor had allegedly been caughtdrinking alcohol and was stripped of his job as crew boss. He alsofaced a possible two-year suspension as a firefighter, Tuschen said.
Redding attorney Dugan Barr, who has been hired by Blood's widow,Shirley Blood, said he has learned that Blood "was directly involvedin the situation where (Victor) was caught (drinking) red-handed."
Barr said that by killing Blood, Victor would have eliminated acritical witness.
"This case will not be considered closed," Tuschen said. He noted thatinvestigators have not ruled out the possibility that others may havebeen involved as lookouts while Blood, a retired Air Force major whocame up through the ranks, was killed.
Barr had much praise for the way the Anderson police have handled thecase and their attitude toward Blood's widow.
"They brought her down here from Idaho and very carefully showed hereverything they had and how the case had developed through DNA, allbefore they informed the media and the public," he said.
"They set a standard I think all police departments should follow,"Barr said.
"She (Shirley Blood) is sorry she will never be able to face herhusband's murderer, but she's glad that he will never harm anyoneelse," he said.
Blood's family filed suit in Shasta Superior Court last November,saying the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection did notadequately provide security in the camp and did not control drug andalcohol abuse there.
But, said Barr, the papers were never served on the state and thislatest twist may lead to moving the case to federal court.
"We now, after the investigation, think that the state forestrydepartment had made arrangements to lease the fairgrounds but thatcontrol of the operations there had been turned over to the federalgovernment shortly before Mr. Blood was killed," Barr said.
"The dangerous conditions on the property may have been the result ofthe state having moved its (security) people out before the federalgovernment could move their's in," he said.
The Bee's Ted Bell can be reached at (916) 321-1071 ortbell@sacbee.com.
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1935 - 1999 (63 years)
