'Toy Box' killer sent to prison for life

<p>A Santa Rosa man who was convicted for stabbing the mother of his children 68 times and stuffing her body in a toy box will spend the rest of his life in state prison.</p><p>Honorio Pantaleon, 31, was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison without parole for killing 26-year-old Patricia Barrales. He was also given a consecutive life term for the attempted murder of Barrales' mother, Isabel Barrales, and another 16 years and four months for using deadly weapons in the crimes and for endangering his two children.</p><p>About 16 members of Barrales' family filled the courtroom. One young man wore a white sweatshirt with the words, “In memory of Patricia,” scrolled in cursive among red hearts and roses.</p><p>Pantaleon, with a goatee and shaved head, stared ahead as an interpreter translated a letter written by Barrales' aunt, Celina Fuentes.</p><p>“This changed us. There are no words for what this man has done,” Fuentes wrote, according to the interpreter. “We are missing a part of our hearts. We look at the children who are missing their mother. It's not fair for all of us.”</p><p>Pantaleon's lawyer, Public Defender Jeff Mitchell, had argued during the trial that Pantaleon was mentally ill and hearing voices in his head when he committed the crime, but a jury found that he was sane.</p><p>Two of Pantaleon's siblings asked the court to help rehabilitate their brother.</p><p>“My brother isn't right in the head,” Caneida Pantaleon said. “I used to know my brother when he was a good kid . . . What we'd like is for him to be cured."</p><p>Mitchell asked Pantaleon's brother when he noticed a change in Pantaleon.</p><p>“A year before it happened I noticed that he wasn't right,” Jesus Pantaleon said.</p><p>Pantaleon admitted to stabbing his girlfriend on Mother's Day in 2008 during a quarrel over her plans to leave him and take their two children with her. The children, 2 and 4 years old at the time, are believed to have been home at the time of the killing, and the 4-year-old boy testified in court that he saw his father stab his mother.</p><p>After the stabbing, Pantaleon fled with his children, a family dog and packed luggage, including the children's birth certificates, to a family member's home in Kelseyville.</p><p>Pantaleon then drove to Ukiah and tried to kill his girlfriend's mother, Isabel Barrales, at her home. He tried to shoot her with a rifle, but the gun didn't work so he hit her with it.</p><p>Pantaleon was convicted in December on eight charges, along with multiple enhancements that included the use of torture.</p><p>After Wednesday's sentencing, Deputy District Attorney Tashawn Sanders said she was satisfied the jury's verdict included charges of torture due to the number of times he stabbed Barrales.</p><p>“It's still unfortunate that his children and Isabel had to endure and witness this.”</p>