Boyfriend arrested in Ukiah in slaying of SR woman

<p>There were no indications Patricia Barrales' life was in danger as she celebrated an early Mothers Day at a barbecue at her mother's Ukiah home Saturday.</p><p>"It was a nice day. She was happy," said her brother, Apolinar Barrales, of Chico.</p><p>Her boyfriend, Honorio "Victor" Pantaleon, was not with her, but Patricia and their two young boys left for the Santa Rosa apartment they shared with him about 3 p.m., Barrales said.</p><p>Then, sometime between leaving the family barbecue and Sunday night, something went terribly wrong.</p><p>Police found the 25-year-old woman's body, stabbed multiple times, hidden deep in a closet in the two-bedroom apartment.</p><p>By Monday morning, Patricia's mother's life also had been threatened, when Pantaleon allegedly pulled a rifle on her in her home. The gun misfired, saving her life. Hours later, Isabel Barrales was in hiding with her two grandchildren.</p><p>Monday night, law enforcement received a tip that Pantaleon was on his way to a family member's Ukiah home. Pantaleon was apprehended without incident a few blocks from where his car was found abandoned earlier in the day, according to Mendocino County Sheriff's Capt. Kurt Smallcomb.</p><p>He was arrested at 10:30 p.m. on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and homicide and booked into Mendocino County Jail.</p><p>The family became concerned Sunday when Isabel Barrales got a phone call from Pantaleon's mother in Lake County. She said Pantaleon had left the boys, ages 2 and 4, with her, and the children were inconsolable.</p><p>Apolinar Barrales said his mother couldn't reach his sister by phone, so she drove to Santa Rosa to check on her.</p><p>Bobby Hopper, who manages the apartment complex at 6123 Montecito Blvd., said Isabel Barrales asked if he would let her into her daughter's unit about 2:30 p.m.</p><p>"She was crying," he said. "She said her daughter's cell phone was off. She said the husband was abusive."</p><p>Hopper said he called police, and officers responded, searching the empty apartment and finding that everything "looked fine."</p><p>About seven hours later, the apartment was a crime scene.</p><p>Hopper said police, acting on a tip from one of her relatives, found Patricia in a toy chest in the closet, covered with her children's playthings.</p><p>"The police had done a walkthrough, but she was buried under all the toys in the toy chest and they didn't see her," Hopper said of the initial search.</p><p>Hopper lives across a small courtyard from the apartment Barrales and Pantaleon shared for two months.</p><p>Patricia Barrales was quiet, did not talk to neighbors and mostly kept her children inside with her, he said.</p><p>Hopper said he once briefly spoke to Barrales alone, about a nearby preschool for the children, and Pantaleon later asked him what she had said.</p><p>He said Pantaleon's behavior raised a red flag, but the couple were "good, quiet tenants," and he was happy to have them as neighbors.</p><p>Police Sgt. Lisa Banayat confirmed the woman's body was found in a closet. She could not say whether police had been to the apartment earlier in the day and would not comment further on the case or information provided by family.</p><p>Banayat said Pantaleon has a criminal history in Lake and Mendocino counties but has not had contact with Santa Rosa police.</p><p>Smallcomb said that sometime after Pantaleon dropped his children in Lake County, he went to Ukiah and just after 6 a.m. Monday, tried to kill Isabel Barrales.</p><p>When his rifle wouldn't fire, he hit her in the head with it and fled, Smallcomb said.</p><p>Ukiah's Grace Hudson Elementary School was locked down Monday after officers found Pantaleon's car abandoned at the apartment complex across the street. The complex abuts Ukiah's heavily wooded western hills.</p><p>School and law enforcement officials guarded the students as they were released, one by one, to their parents at 3 p.m.</p><p>Patricia Barrales' children, meanwhile, were at an undisclosed location with Isabel Barrales, Smallcomb said.</p><p>Apolinar Barrales said he does not know what led to the violence. He said Pantaleon hit his sister once that he knows of, several years ago.</p><p>Pantaleon and Barrales lived with Patricia's mother in south Ukiah until moving to Santa Rosa, and Patricia had worked at Ukiah Valley Medical Center, Apolinar Barrales said.</p><p>Mendocino County Sheriff's Lt. Rusty Noe said deputies responded to domestic violence calls involving Pantaleon when he and Barrales lived in Ukiah. Details of the calls were not available.</p><p>News Researcher Michele Van Hoeck contributed to this report.</p><p>You can reach Staff Writer Laura Norton at 521-5220 or laura.norton@pressdemocrat.com and Glenda Anderson at 462-6473 or glenda.anderson@pressdemocrat.com.</p>