Santa Ana Man Held in Torture and Murder of Disabled Baby Sitter

A 25-year-old man has been arrested as a suspect in the torture and murder last November of a disabled, live-in baby sitter who was caring for her own daughter and four other children in a Santa Ana home, police said Thursday.

Investigators, who called the killing “vicious, sadistic and brutal,” would not disclose how they linked Kenneth Clair to the slaying of Linda Faye Rodgers, 25, a cerebral palsy victim who “was almost totally defenseless.”

Cerebral palsy is a condition that results from damage to the brain before or during birth and is characterized by problems of coordination and speech.

Being Held Without Bail

Clair, an unemployed cook and painter, was arrested at Jerome Park in Santa Ana late Wednesday on suspicion of burglary, murder and torture, and was being held at Orange County Jail without bail, Santa Ana police Sgt. John McClain said. He added that Clair, who did not resist arrest, is expected to be arraigned on the charges early next week.

Either of the lesser crimes would qualify as special circumstances in the commission of a murder, and if convicted, Clair could be sentenced to death or life in prison without parole. By state law, a conviction on the special circumstance of torture requires “proof of the infliction of extreme physical pain no matter how long its duration.”

McClain, the sergeant in charge of homicide investigations, would not discuss how the victim allegedly was tortured.

“I will say that, in my opinion, the murder was extremely vicious, sadistic and brutal,” McClain said. He would not comment on whether Clair knew Rodgers or the family she had worked for.

Found by Children’s Parents

The parents of the four children discovered Rodgers’ body bound, stabbed and bludgeoned in her bedroom Nov. 15 when they returned home from an evening at the movies.

Three hours before they found the woman dead, police said, Margaret and Kai Hendrickson had called their home at 8:45 p.m to check on their four children--ages 2 1/2 to 6--and their baby sitter. Police said Rodgers had assured the couple that “everything was fine.”

The four Hendrickson children and Rodgers’ 6-year-old daughter were in the home on West Wilshire Avenue but were not harmed, police said. Investigators have declined comment on where the children were or what they might have witnessed when their baby sitter was slain.

Died by Asphyxiation

An Orange County deputy coroner said Thursday that Rodgers died of asphyxiation due to a “ligature about the neck.”

According to McClain, Clair had been a suspect since shortly after the slaying. He lives in a Santa Ana apartment on Sullivan Street but is originally from New Orleans.

In the past five months, Clair has been arrested and booked into Orange County Jail on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, trespassing, attempted residential burglary, brandishing a weapon, possession of stolen property and, two weeks ago, for residential burglary, law enforcement sources said Thursday. Those cases are still pending in court.

Rodgers’ daughter, Christy Nicole, is living with relatives in another state, police said.