200 at funeral Mass for Barrales

<p>UKIAH -- Nearly 200 people attended a funeral Mass in Ukiah on Monday to pay respects to a 25-year-old woman who was stabbed to death on Mother Day's weekend in her Rincon Valley apartment.</p><p>A photograph of a smiling Patricia Barrales stood among colorful wreaths and bouquets near the altar in Saint Mary of the Angels Catholic Church, where Father Raul Lemus spoke to mourners alternately in English and Spanish.</p><p>"It's a very tragic day when we turn over to God Patricia, who has been taken from us in a very tragic way," he said.</p><p>Barrales had appeared happy when her family last saw her alive on May 10 during a Mothers Day celebration at her parents' home in south Ukiah.</p><p>About a month earlier, she had moved from that home to a Rincon Valley apartment with her two children, ages 2 and 4, and their father, Honorio Pantaleon, who is now charged with her murder.</p><p>Her body, stabbed at least five times, was found inside a plastic toy chest within a closet at their apartment on May 11.</p><p>Lemus said the horrific death has thrown Barrales' family into darkness, but he said the community coming together at Monday's service would help lift them from that darkness.</p><p>"Here is your light," he said.</p><p>Barrales worked in the patient finance department at Ukiah Valley Medical Center and continued to commute there after moving to Sonoma County.</p><p>Barrales and Pantaleon had moved to Sonoma County in hopes that Pantaleon, a high-school dropout with a criminal record, past gang affiliations and who was illegally in the country, could find better work, according to his family.</p><p>Pantaleon had been deported three times, returning each time with help from his family, they said.</p><p>There had been friction between Pantaleon and Barrales because Pantaleon believed his jobs were inferior to his wife's, according to Barrales family members.</p><p>One of Pantaleon's sisters said he recently had been very depressed. Another said he had been imagining things and described him as "crazy."</p><p>A Sonoma County judge last week ordered a psychiatric evaluation before Pantaleon's case proceeds.</p><p>Charges include murder, aggravated mayhem, domestic violence, child endangerment, use of a knife and two unnamed special circumstances in Sonoma County.</p><p>He later is expected to face attempted murder and related charges in Mendocino County for allegedly trying to kill Barrales' mother on May 12.</p><p>He allegedly tried to shoot her, but the rifle did not fire. Isabel Barrales said she grabbed the malfunctioning rifle before he could try again, at which time Pantaleon struck her in the side of the head.</p><p>You can reach Staff Writer Glenda Anderson at 462-6473 or glenda.anderson@pressdemocrat.com.</p>