Two-Day Crime Spree Ends Violently

KCAL 9 ^ | 01 June 2005 | AP

[af_vet_1981]

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. (AP) An Indiana man with a troubled past went on a two-day crime spree that left three people dead and five hospitalized before he killed himself inside a Wal-Mart store, police said.

Authorities are still trying to determine what set off 38-year-old Toby Whelchel but connections between at least one of the victims and Whelchel began to emerge Wednesday as family members tried to make sense of their loss.

Attorney Steve Mazin, 52, was granted a restraining order against Whelchel three years ago after telling a judge the former Air Force captain was dating his estranged wife and was "dangerous and violent," according to court records. Mazin had also represented Whelchel in criminal matters in Corona and Santa Maria before their relationship deteriorated, the Ventura County Star reported on Wednesday.

[af_vet_1981]

Innocent victims were murdered and families are in pain because Toby Whelchel had an affair with Joanne Mazin and murdered them.

[Mind-numbed Robot]

Had to be more going on in his head than just the info here.

[af_vet_1981]

The Air Force, sad to say, allowed him to be a Captain. Fortunately they court-martialed him in 1999. Years later, after violent behavior and a record, he hooks up with this lawyer Steve Mazin, who represents the perp. Now the perp, Toby, has an affair with Steve's wife Joanne and Steve files divorce papers and gets a restraining order against Toby. While the home is up for escrow (and Toby was sleeping there sometimes), Toby shows up at Steve's house (Steve had moved out; I hate divorce laws) and murders not only Steve, but an innocent couple who were neighbors. Then the perp breaks into another house of an innocent family and pistol whips the mother to death, and pistol whips two children within an inch of their life (pray for this family). He takes off for a Wal Mart where he finally executes himself.

Evil walked the earth.

[Mind-numbed Robot]

From reading the article he was booted from the AF for not reporting for duty on time and had a history of violence. Sounds like a meth addict.

[af_vet_1981]

We had mandatory drug testing when I served. Some of the articles about him suggested alchoholism. I still come back to the trigger in this crime, adultery by the perp defender's wife with the perp. It's sad that innocent people were murdered and wounded. The adulterous wife is also to blame. The perp called her after he murdered her husband and the two neighbors and told her he would see her in the "afterlife" ...

[rawhide]

I wonder how the ex-wife feels about her 'affair' now?

[af_vet_1981]

I wonder how the ex-wife feels about her 'affair' now?

I expect she feels very guilty.

She should because she is.

Two families lost mothers because of her and her lover.

[bd476]

af_vet_1981 wrote: "...because Toby Whelchel had an affair with Joanne Mazin..."

It is not clear that he had an affair with his ex-attorney's wife. She has denied it and says that they were business partners.

Whelchel had a long track record of violence, arrests, a court martial followed by a dishonorable discharge from the Air Force, uncontrollable rages and reported alcoholism.

For most of his crimes, including his problems in the Air Force, he claimed having a biological condition which made it difficult for him to awaken and as a reason for his uncontrollable rages. His diabetes and low blood sugar was also used as a defense in some of his arrests. Investigators found Whelchel's insulin kit with syringe in his belongings.

From his history, and according to one report Toby Whelchel was a career criminal.

* * * * *

"...Joanne Mazin told police she met Whelchel at a California Lutheran University festival several years ago and went into business with him. Whelchel often stayed with her at the Calle Laredo home but didn't pay rent. They were not romantically involved, she said..."

"...Whelchel had been dishonorably discharged from the U.S. Air Force after repeatedly reporting late for duty. He claimed a car accident in 1998 had triggered a medical condition that made him groggy and hostile in the mornings..."

Affidavits reveal details of rampage

* * * * *

"...In Whelchel's truck, investigators found backpacks stuffed with a Ruger 9mm handgun, a .38 Special handgun, boxes of ammunition, knives, maps, binoculars and an insulin kit with syringes.

Investigators found spent 9 mm shells and an empty root beer can spattered with blood at Steve Mazin's Thousand Oaks home..."

Documents reveal details of spree

* * * * *

"...The Ventura County Star reported that Whelchel was a captain in the Air Force and was dismissed from the Los Angeles Air Force Base and fined $3,000 in 1999 for failing to obey his superiors and repeated failure to report for duty.

The newspaper also reported Whelchel had a history of violence in Indiana, Florida and California, including battery on a peace officer, resisting arrest, making terrorist threats and domestic violence allegations.

A battery charge against Toby Whelchel in Hamilton County was dropped in 2002, according to court documents.

Fishers native kills 3, himself in California

* * * * *

"...There were two men, it seemed, inside the troubled mind of Toby Whelchel.

One the polite, clean-cut former Air Force captain who was a "preppy jock" in high school. A young man full of big plans to become a fighter pilot. A gallant sort of charmer who saw himself as a protector of women.

And then there was the other. The angry man whose rage burned hot and erupted without warning, who saw himself as a victim of authority figures and lawyers. This was a side that first surfaced — at least on paper — 16 years ago when the then 22-year-old fought with police during an arrest for public intoxication in a trendy nightclub area of Indianapolis.

Belligerent and wild, he fought three police officers then ran while handcuffed, yelling curses and threats..."

(Toby Whelchel's Older Brother in Jail)

"...While Toby left town, Robert, a year older, stayed behind. But both acquired long criminal records in the ensuing years.

"Robert Whelchel still lives in Noblesville and has been in the Hamilton County jail 28 times since 1994. Charges range from being drunk in public to passing bad checks to battery. He's in jail again for public intoxication, according to Noblesville police Sgt. Steve Staletovich..."

"...Whelchel claimed the accident triggered a sleeping disorder that made him groggy and hostile in the mornings and unable to get out of bed before noon everyday. He was also diagnosed with diabetes, which he exacerbated by drinking and failing to take medication, according to military court records.

As a result, he began showing up late for duty repeatedly over a six-month period. When confronted by a commanding officer, Whelchel got into an argument with him.

The incident triggered a court-martial in 1999. Whelchel was convicted of failing to obey an order and repeatedly failing to show up for duty. He was dismissed from the Air Force and fined $3,000. During the court-martial, Whelchel blamed his conduct on his inability to sleep and medical conditions, but medical evidence presented at trial showed his sleep disorder could not be diagnosed.

That same year, Whelchel's second wife accused him of battery and spousal abuse. Charges were filed but later dismissed. The couple divorced, according to a statement by Whelchel in Ventura County court records. Her name was not in the court records..."

"...It was the same role Whelchel took up when he moved in with Ed Roth's ex-wife and two children in their Simi Valley home, Roth said.

Whelchel also allegedly assaulted Roth and threatened to put duct tape on his young daughter's mouth as a form of discipline.

'My ex-wife thought he was a good guy, he helped her around the house," Roth said. "But the kids were terrified of him.'..."

"...'This guy was out of control, his reaction was just way over the top," said Santa Maria Police Capt. Steve Lopez. Officers had asked Whelchel to get down from a pickup truck where he watching a demolition derby at the fairgrounds without buying a ticket.

Whelchel threw a fruit drink down onto the truck and started screaming obscenities. It took three officers to subdue him. Whelchel was red-faced and wild-eyed with rage, Lopez remembers.

'If he would have just said 'Hey, sorry,' and gotten down from the truck, the whole thing would have been over," Lopez said. "But he just went crazy, and the whole thing escalated.'

Whelchel was convicted of resisting and obstructing a peace officer. His defense was that low blood sugar and his sleep disorder made him lose control..."

Whelchel seen as both gallant protector and 'psychopath'

* * * * *

Spree killer takes 3 lives in two-county rampage

By Angie Valencia-Martinez and Eric Leach Staff Writers

SIMI VALLEY - A career criminal shattered the calm of two of the nation's safest cities in a vicious two-day crime spree during which he killed three people and seriously injured four others before committing suicide Tuesday in a Wal-Mart.

Spree killer takes 3 lives in two-county rampage

* * * * *
Alcoholism likely culprit in rampage

[bd476]

Ping to Whelchel's history: court martial, dishonorable discharge, violent assaults, arrests, history of drinking, repeated use of his "medical condition" used as a defense, etc.

[Mind-numbed Robot]

If these people are going to end it all by killing themselves why don't they just start with that and leave the rest alone?

[af_vet_1981]

It is not clear that he had an affair with his ex-attorney's wife. She has denied it and says that they were business partners.

Scott Peterson denies killing Laci.

Adulterous women are liars.

He moved in with her and her husband filed for divorce. He left her a final cell phone message telling her that her husband would trouble her no more and she and the perp would be together in the afterlife.

[oldbrowser]

Two families lost mothers because of her and her lover.

Women will always go for the more "exciting" guy, if he's dangerous it's even more attractive.

[af_vet_1981]

Women will always go for the more "exciting" guy, if he's dangerous it's even more attractive.

Those women are partly responsible for the evil those "bad boys" do to human beings (and dogs).

[oldbrowser]

Those women are partly responsible for the evil those "bad boys" do to human beings (and dogs).

I agree. They are usually the victim. Unfortunately in this case it was other innocent people.

[bd476]

af_vet_1981 wrote: "Scott Peterson denies killing Laci."

Are you comparing the business partner of a psychopath to Scott Peterson?

af_vet_1981 wrote: " Adulterous women are liars."

Her husband, the attorney did not tell friends that his soon to be ex-wife was having an affair with him, nor did the attorney's surviving friends mention that the cause of the attorney's divorce was an illicit affair.

The killer had other business partners.

He had threatened his attorney because he lost a criminal court case suit brought against him for a prior out of control rage/violent attack. This was before he set up a business relationship with the lawyer's ex-wife.

Then there are these:

• the killer's first wife;
• the killer's second wife who had a restraining order against him for domestic violence;
• the children he abused;
• his C.O. in the Air Force;
• the police officers he attacked while handcuffed in a rage;
• the Officers present as witnesses at his court martial and dishonorable discharge;
• his Step-Father who claimed he "wasn't blood;"
• his currently jailed brother?

All of those people were witnesses to his uncontrollable rages, his personality changes. Do you know something about the killer which they don't? Or are they all liars too?

af_vet_1981 wrote: " He moved in with her and her husband filed for divorce. He left her a final cell phone message telling her that her husband would trouble her no more and she and the perp would be together in the afterlife."

Are you taking the words of a career criminal/murderer shortly before his own death as proof?

Are you laying blame for his career criminal murderous rage on a woman he met:

• Years after his court martial and dishonorable discharge from the Air Force,
• Years after he began skipping his doses of his prescribed insulin taken for his diabetes,
• Years after his attacking police officers while in a drunken rage,
• Years after divorcing his first wife,
• Years after beating up and divorcing his second wife,
• Years after moving in with another woman then binding her children with duct tape?

Look AF_Vet_1981, this case is a hideous story. If you knew the man personally, and feel that he was wronged, or if you have reliable information that the facts which came out after his murder spree are all skewed, then it could be possible that the news media did not include those facts and wrote a biased article.

The news media likes neat and tidy stories. It is possible that someone reviewed the subpoenaed affidavits and then wrote something else.

[Sundown2005]

I thought the same thing myself.

[af_vet_1981]

What is your relationship with the perp and Joanne ?

[bd476]

af_vet_1981 wrote: "What is your relationship with the perp and Joanne ?"

Thank you. That is my question to you.

[af_vet_1981]

• Affidavits reveal details of rampage

  
  
  When Toby Whelchel called business partner Joanne Mazin on Memorial Day, it wasn't to discuss business.
  
  Instead, Whelchel told her she no longer had to worry about her estranged husband because he had just shot him three times. He then told her he had shot three people and would see her in the afterlife.
  
  

• Previous relationship

  Whelchel knew Mazin and Mazin’s estranged wife, Joanne, according to court documents.
  
  Whelchel met Joanne Mazin in March 2000 at a festival at California Lutheran University, court records show. The Mazins were involved in a divorce, and Steve Mazin had filed a restraining order against Whelchel — allegedly Joanne Mazin’s love interest, a claim she denied — that was set to expire in December.
  
  Joanne Mazin rented a game Whelchel had developed for her son’s birthday party in April. Following the party, she and Whelchel entered into business together, and Joanne marketed the game in Thousand Oaks.
  
  The pair provided rock climbing walls, a petting zoo, water launchers, a giant slide and race cars for parties and carnivals, according to court documents. Joanne Mazin described her profession as a party planner in court documents filed as part of her divorce from her husband.
  
  Steve Mazin soon became Whelchel’s attorney in several matters, including arrests in Corona and Santa Maria.
  
  The relationship quickly deteriorated, with Whelchel charging that Mazin breached the attorney-client relationship to bolster Mazin’s standing in the divorce proceedings and a restraining order against Whelchel, who allegedly threatened Mazin previously.
  
  Nishimoto would not comment on whether authorities are in touch with Joanne Mazin, or if they knew of her whereabouts. A Dodge truck registered under her name was found at Vons and was described by witnesses as the truck Whelchel left the scene in after the shootings in Thousand Oaks.
  
  

• What started killer's frenzy?

  
  
  Steve and Joanne Mazin, married since 1986, separated in 2002. Steve Mazin moved to a house on Montgomery Road -- where Whelchel's two days of terror began. Whelchel's name peppered court documents from the divorce. Steve Mazin accused his wife Joanne and Whelchel of having an affair, an allegation Joanne denied in court papers.
  
  "They weren't romantically involved at all, and they never have been," said Joanne's divorce attorney, Hilary Shankin. "She denied it under penalty of perjury several times."
  
  [as have Bill and Hillary Clinton]

Are you comparing the business partner of a psychopath to Scott Peterson?

• Scott Peterson called Amber Frey but she turned him in. Toby Whechtel used Joanne Mazin's truck to murder Steve and another couple, called Joanne Mazin to report it, and what did Joanne Mazin do ... ?

  Her husband, the attorney did not tell friends that his soon to be ex-wife was having an affair with him, nor did the attorney's surviving friends mention that the cause of the attorney's divorce was an illicit affair.

• What is your source for this ? I have linked sources that confirm he alleged it in affidavits. "Whelchel's name peppered court documents from the divorce. Steve Mazin accused his wife Joanne and Whelchel of having an affair, an allegation Joanne denied in court papers."

  The killer had other business partners.

• Who were they ? Was he living with any other of them ? Did he have any of their vehicles ? Did he call any other of them after he murdered the victims ?

  He had threatened his attorney because he lost a criminal court case suit brought against him for a prior out of control rage/violent attack.

• Or because he had become fixated on Joanne ...
  
  "As Whelchel's relationship with Joanne Mazin strengthened, his relationship with Steve Mazin deteriorated. During a meeting at Mazin's Westlake Village office, Whelchel began shouting at the attorney loud enough to be heard through a closed door, Sirota said.
  
  The growing divide between the two culminated in a bloody fight at Mazin's Calle Laredo house. After that, Mazin requested a restraining order to keep Whelchel away from him and his son, calling Whelchel "dangerous and violent" in court papers."
  
  

  This was before he set up a business relationship with the lawyer's ex-wife.

• See above links.

  af_vet_1981 wrote: " He moved in with her and her husband filed for divorce. He left her a final cell phone message telling her that her husband would trouble her no more and she and the perp would be together in the afterlife."
  
  Are you taking the words of a career criminal/murderer shortly before his own death as proof?

  Yes, he knew he was going to die and called the woman he loved.

  Are you laying blame for his career criminal murderous rage on a woman he met:

  He was living with her and driving her truck. He called her to report in.

  Look AF_Vet_1981, this case is a hideous story ...

  Ya think ?

  What is it that leads people to defend the hideous ?

[af_vet_1981]

af_vet_1981 wrote: "What is your relationship with the perp and Joanne ?" Thank you. That is my question to you.

I have no relationship with any of the perps, their lovers, or their defenders.