Parents of Teenage Murder Victim File Suit Against County

By Jim Stebinger and Jorge Casuso

Saturday, May 22 --The parents of a teenager who may have been the victim of a Satanic ritualistic murder have filed a suit against the county, which owns the abandoned mental health facility where their daughter's body was found.

Edward James Geoghegan and his wife, Eileen Susan Geoghegan, filed a wrongful death suit May 11 in the Feb. 24, 1998 death of their 14-year-old daughter Shevawn Geoghegan. She was their only child.

The Geoghegans charged that the county mental health facility at 1525 Euclid St. was so poorly maintained it created a recognizable risk for the kind of incident that occurred. The one and two story structure built around an interior Spanish-style courtyard was damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake and abandoned.

According to the suit, there were no security guards posted and no inspections of the premises were conducted. The property was overgrown, the fences were not secure and open windows were visible. There was only one short fence and one small gate, and the building was accessible from an alley. Inside the building were rooms that could be closed from view.

The suit charges that the building was unsanitary and posed a health hazard. There were no utilities, and those who entered used candles and matches and set small fires. They also urinated and defecated in non functioning toilets.

Persons using the building were unauthorized and included transients, criminals, and disturbed persons, according to the suit. In addition, there was a long list of crimes -- including assault, battery, vandalism, theft, drug use and drug sales - committed on the premises.

Remedial action taken after the fact shows belated recognition of the danger, the suit said.

The county should have known people were using the building and it was a danger, since problems associated with transients staying in vacant structures was well known.

Plaintiffs believe their daughter entered the building voluntarily and was as cautious as an ordinary 14-year-old before she was restrained and murdered inside. Her body was then concealed in the basement.

The plaintiffs are suing the county and unnamed persons and are asking for unstated compensatory damages plus the costs of the suit and further relief.

Glen Mason (AKA Jason Bayless) and Elizabeth Mengham are in jail awaiting trial for murder.

MORE