Suspect in invasion and arson caught

Deepa Bharath

Newport Beach police early Thursday morning arrested a 41-year-old

handyman accused of gagging and binding the woman he worked for and

setting her house on fire Wednesday, officials said.

After about 16 hours of scouring the bluffs and the Back Bay

behind the home on Galaxy Drive where the incident occurred, police

caught Kevin Duane Carpenter in a Costa Mesa motel in the 2200 block

of Newport Boulevard.

Officials said he had lived there for the last two months.

On Wednesday, a man identified as Carpenter bound the woman living

in the home and her female assistant and hit them both on the head,

police said. The women told police that the assailant had a handgun.

The assailant then lighted several fires throughout the home,

causing a large portion of it to burn and collapse, officials said.

Both women escaped uninjured from the burning home.

SWAT team members and firefighters spent several hours Wednesday

trying to clear the debris and enter the home to search for

Carpenter. They continued into the night, shining lights into the

Back Bay.

Detectives recovered several pieces of evidence, including a

modified handgun and a recent traffic citation handed out to

Carpenter that led police to the Costa Mesa motel, which was listed

as his last known address, Newport Beach Police Sgt. Steve Shulman

said.

“The gun and the citation were found close to each other, which

led us to believe it belonged to him,” he said.

Two Newport Beach police officers staked out Carpenter’s motel

room. At about 4:20 a.m. Thursday, Carpenter used a motel house phone

to call the manager and request a duplicate key for his room, Shulman

said.

“The manager began to walk [Carpenter] to his room when he ran to

the parking area of the motel with the officers in pursuit,” he said.

Carpenter stopped when the officers ordered him to stop and was

taken into custody without incident, Shulman said.

He said Carpenter was “extremely dirty, wet and had cactus

stickers and burrs all over him,” indicating he had escaped

immediately after the incident by scaling down a steep cliff and

hiding in the Back Bay area behind the Galaxy Drive home.

Carpenter was booked on suspicion of attempted murder and arson.

He is being held in Newport Beach city jail without bail and is

expected to be arraigned today or Monday.

This is not the first incidence of violence on Galaxy Drive this

year. On June 10, an 85-year-old woman on the same street was

attacked and robbed by a man right after she pulled into her garage.

Neighbors in the Dover Shores area said they were “relieved” to

learn about Carpenter’s arrest.

Kingsley Echlin said she would continue to feel safe in her

neighborhood, but would take precautions in the future.

“I’ll make sure and lock all the doors,” she said. “And I’ll think

twice about who I hire to work for me.”

Ann and Bob French, who live next door to the victim, said they

spent an uncomfortable night wondering where Carpenter may have been.

“It was kind of scary,” Ann French said. “I’m relieved for sure.”

She said she had seen Carpenter several times at work next door.

But, French added, she didn’t know her neighbor too well.

“I said hello to her a few times,” French said. “She seemed very

nice.”

During Thursday, several people stopped by the corner to look at

the burned house. The hole that firefighters had made to get into the

residence Wednesday afternoon still remained. Yellow police tape was

tied around the perimeter.

For one passerby, the scene was particularly painful.

Patty Culpepper had tears in her eyes as she looked at the house

she had lived in for almost seven years.

“My family and I have had so many memories in this house,” she

said. “We’ve had family reunions, holidays. My husband died in this

house.”

Culpepper lovingly talked about the house’s distinctive blue roof

and the color of the iron gates that matched the roof.

“I’d drive by here at least once a month just for the memories,”

she said, choking up. “This is horrible.”

Culpepper said she and her family lived at the home from 1994 to

2001 when she sold the house. She now lives on Balboa Island.

“This area has always been crime-prone because it’s easily

accessible from Irvine Avenue,” she said. “We’ve had a few robberies

and burglaries in this neighborhood. But a violent incident like this

one? I’d have to say, never.”

* DEEPA BHARATH covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at deepa.bharath@latimes.com.