A 16-year-old boy accused in the stabbing death of a West Hills woman who had taken the teen into the home she shared with her husband and son is being prosecuted as an adult, prosecutors announced Friday.
Steven Paul Main of Bell Canyon is charged with one count of murder, along with an allegation that he used a knife during the commission of the crime, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
The teen allegedly stabbed 53-year-old Connie Cajulis multiple times Tuesday, then drove off in her vehicle but crashed it soon afterward.
Cajulis, a regular volunteer at Calabasas High School and strong supporter of its athletic programs, was found in her residence in the 7100 block of Shadow Ridge Court between 4:30 and 5 p.m. Tuesday and the teen was arrested the same day.
Cajulis was not related to the teen, but friends said she and her family had taken the boy into their home, possibly after he was expelled from Calabasas High.
“She opened up her home to any student who needed it,” Calabasas High School principal C.J. Foss told ABC7. “She was kind of the mother of anybody that needed mothering.”
Cajulis and her husband have a son who still attends the high school, along with a son in college.
A post Wednesday on Calabasas High School’s Facebook page called Cajulis “a beloved member of the Calabasas High School community.”
“Connie Cajulis was an extraordinarily giving and loving person who was president of the CHS Coyote Club, embraced boys’ and girls’ basketball, boys’ and girls’ volleyball, boys’ and girls’ soccer, boys’ and girls’ tennis, boys’ and girls’ track and field, boys’ and girls’ swimming, water polo and football,” according to the Facebook post.
Main — whose bail was set at $2 million — faces up to life in state prison if convicted as charged, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
—City News Service