- NEWS
- Suspect in girl's killing dies in jail 55 minutes ago
- Engineer gets 15½ years for giving secrets to Chinese 1 hour & 24 minutes ago
- Immigrant activists blast proposed state cuts 1 hour & 8 minutes ago
- Trial of son accused of killing mom delayed 51 minutes ago
- SPORTS
- Angels' Hunter keeps getting better 8 minutes ago
- Where does Kobe's loyalty rank him?
- Laker Mom didn't want to come to L.A. 3 hours & 21 minutes ago
- Saints' victory was for Edgar 57 minutes ago
- BUSINESS
- ENTERTAINMENT
- LIFE
- Help Haiti, get a haircut or facial today 1 hour & 43 minutes ago
- Blue Cross criticized for rate hike 13 minutes ago
- Win tote bag, beauty goodies
- Get plastic surgery, forget Oscar?
- TRAVEL
- OPINION
- Today's cartoons: Obama's battle speech 2 hours & 12 minutes ago
- Gordon Dillow: Don't repeal 'don't ask, don't tell' policy 2 hours & 24 minutes ago
- Editorial: Time to change 'don't ask, don't tell'
- Letters: Reasons to get onboard high-speed rail
Day 29: A father arrives at the scene of total horror
November 30th, 2009, 2:00 am · 51 Comments · posted by Larry Welborn
1984: Bob Trueblood was a little worried when his wife and three kids were late getting back to their Fullerton home on Oct. 23, when he heard the sounds of ambulances. He got in his car, drove a few blocks and came upon a police road block. Beyond the police barriers was total horror: His wife, Pamela, and all three of his children — Eric, 11, Kerry, 9, and Scott, 8 — had been killed in a head-on collision by a drunken driver.
Michael Wesley Reding, a 27-year-old engineer, had been drinking beers and mixed drinks at Laredo’s bar in Brea to take advantage of the bar’s air conditioning, because he had none in his Fullerton apartment. And then he got behind the wheel of his 1972 Mercury Cougar and raced down a darkened stretch of State College Boulevard, crossed over the center line and smashed into the Trueblood family car.
After the crash, Reding signed the blood-test consent form “Michael Better Off Dead W. Reding. ” He told the nurse to inject him with cyanide. He asked an officer if he could borrow a gun to end it all.
In June 1986, Reding became the first person in Orange County to be convicted of second-degree murder for an alcohol-related driving death. He had been the victim of a reckless driver himself months earlier when a friend bowled him over in a parking lot.
He was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison. It was his first offense.
His convictions were later reduced to vehicular manslaughter on appeal, and he served about seven years in prison before he was paroled.
-
- Pamela Trueblood
-
- Scott Trueblood
-
- Eric Trueblood
-
- Kerry Trueblood
Pictured above: On Christmas eve in the bedroom of his Fullerton home, Bob Trueblood looks over vacation photos of he and his wife. Photographs of his three children remain on his dresser, 1984 Register File Photo.
Reader Comments
Comments are encouraged, but you must follow our User Agreement.- Keep it civil and stay on topic.
- No profanity, vulgarity, racial slurs or personal attacks.
- People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked.
51 Comments
-
ADVERTISEMENT
-
ADVERTISEMENT
…and……….what’s your point?
Is this about Trueblood or Reding?
This was a tragic accident, not a tragic crime.
You know we’ve done a greater crime, WARS, yes you pay your taxes that funds the killing of innocent people, you are ALL killers!!!
Uhhmmm….drunk driving is a crime not an accident. You amoral fool!
a tragic accident? Driving drunk is not a accident.
use a different platform for your war cries. sheesh.
blah
You’re not very bright are you? Fell behind in class and dropped out at 3rd grade huh? You lose your wife and three kids and let’s see how you feel.
Wow, he didn’t even serve two years per person. Only in America.
Perhaps it is different for other people, but the few times I got really hammered drinking, if there was something that I really wouldn’t do sober, I wouldn’t do it drunk. Like there is no way I would EVER sexually molest a child, drunk or sober.
If you drive drunk, that is a felony. If you kill someone while driving drunk, you should be charged with felony murder since anyone killed during the commission of a felony is charged with such. Maybe that will cut down on drinking and driving.
Sadly, I don’t think it would be much of a deterrent, although I agree with you.
I lived in this area and worked at the Brea mall at the time. I will never forget the tragedy of this accident.
I hope he rots in jail for what he did!!!!
Uhhhh, did you read the article? He spent 7 years in prison and got out in 1991.
I remember this story…very sad. Hard to believe it was 25 years ago…it would be nice if you could do an update on the dad too…
[...] rest is here: Notorious cases: A scene of total horror No TweetBacks yet. (Be the first to Tweet this post)SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: “Notorious cases: A [...]
It would be nice to know if Bob Trueblood was doing ok today. I hope so. I hope he was able to carry on and still enjoy his life.
If memory serves me right Bob moved out of the area, remarried, and started a new family.
Bob did not move out of the area. I am his step daughter and we stayed in the same house for many years then moved to Yorba Linda. He had two wonderful sons, my brothers, whom he would be proud of. He died of cancer and was laid to rest beside Pam and the kids. He was an incredible human being who touched many peoples lives. He did start a new family but Pam, Eric, Scott, and Kerry were missed every day of his life. Michael Redding only felt sorry for himself.
thank you for taking the time to offer an update regarding your stepfather Bob. I am so sorry for your loss.
All these years later we still have idiots on the road driving drunk and killing people.
Sad story for all concerned. Take note drivers with more that 2 drinks under the belt. If you’re drinking take a cab. Or have a driver who will not be drinking. That’s hard to find! Personally as a former drinker I now find those who do repugnant.
I have a different take on driving while drunk. Although I would never drive while impaired because of the possible disaster that could occur, many do.
Some people can’t drive well enough to be among others even when sober, while some can “have a few” and still get home OK. Therefore, “drunk driving”, in and of itself should not be illegal. On the other hand, if one has an accident while impaired, whether or not anyone is hurt and regardless of fault, the people of the state (DA) should require capital punishment for the offender.
There are laws against driving drunk, and the reason for them is to prevent such tragedies as the one in the story. Nevertheless, there are thousands of repeat offenders out driving among us every day. If one were facing a CERTAIN death penalty for simply banging up his car, much less hurting someone, while driving drunk, the practice of doing so would be stopped nearly overnight.
I hope Mr. Trueblood is doing well.
Ed, I hope that you are right when you say you would never drive while impaired. But I find your reasoning somewhat scary as I’m wondering if you would even realize that you were impaired?
Yeah, apparently people do drive drunk and often do manage to make it home ok without crashing. But the risk of a crash is greatly increased, especially if they need to react to something. They likely won’t be able to react quickly and properly.
I don’t know him personally, so I can’t say anything for Bob Trueblood’s state of mind today, but I can assure you that *never* a day goes by without him feeling the pain of losing an entire family in a single day.
He will feel that pain every day for the rest of his life. His only hope is that he learns how to live with the pain… that will never go away.
TakeThePebble…you are so right. It never goes away. My brother was killed by a drunk driver January 14, 1980. He was 26 with a wife and two young boys. A day has not passed in my life since then where I don’t think of him, and miss him with all my heart. I pray Mr. Trueblood has found a good life since then, but I know his heart will always ache for what he lost.
Only 7 years WOW!!!!!!! I’m no one to judge, but only 7 years that’s why theres alot of drinking and driving he killed a family and only 7 years. What’s wrong with this story a person gets life if you kill a cop but this guy killed 3 innocent people and got 7 years. Justice needs to be served.
Fast forward to more current news: Can anyone name the sitting governor who commuted the life sentenced of a convicted murderer?
That would be Gov. Good ole Boy - Haley Barbour from Mississippi.
Killer was a trustee at the Gov.’s mansion ten years into a life sentence for blowing away his former wife three years after their divorce, after coming upon her waiting for a traffic light to turn green.
Gov. Bubba took a shine to killer, commuted his sentence, buh-buh bye, released him.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/08/02/national/main4316708.shtml
Killer is a free walking man, today.
Another reason for GPS in family court. Save lives and the state, double-digit millions.
http://www.gpsmonitoring.com/family-courts.html
Talking about soft on criminals…
Isn’t former GOP presidential contender / governor of Arkansas / FOX talk-show host, Mike Huckabee, the one who granted parole to the convict who just killed four police officers in Tacoma, WA the other day???
I think I heard the perp was supposed to serve 95 years, and then Gov Huckabee granted him parole.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aUe.VLR0VMZI
bobbyc, yeah, however in reading about it I believe he was only 17 at the time of the aggravated assault or whatever it was. I didn’t hear the details of the crime but it was not murder and usually even murderers get way less than that and especially if they are younger at the time.
So, it did seem like an excessive sentence. Actually he didn’t grant him parole directly but commuted the sentence to reduce it to something like 45 years, but he had already served I think it was 10 yrs or so and that made him eligible for parole.
But then it sounded like both Ark and WA messed up in that the guy violated parole so was returned to prison for a few more years. But then last spring he was accused of a sexual offense against a child–a violent one I think it was. Took them awhile to charge him in late Nov I think it was, but then he was out on bail after that.
Sounds like at the time Huckabee commuted his sentence it might have seemed reasonable, although a misjudgement that he has said he feels badly about.
But why WA ever allowed him out on bail for the recent crime is beyond me.
Bob Trueblood has his life taken away from him, and Michael Reding is a free man after seven years. Somehow it just doesn’t seem right.
On a related note, I understand that those accused of a crime need legal representative, but when I hear Miles Berman on the radio brag about getting people charged with with DUI off on technicalities (the breath-a-lyzer was not recently calibrated, or some minor procedural error by the police) my blood just boils.
I can hardly believe its been 25 years. Not a time goes by that I don’t think of that incident when I travel that street.
It’s the fullerton apartments fault for not having A/C, right……………….?
“He had been the victim of a reckless driver himself months earlier when a friend bowled him over in a parking lot.”
____________________________________________________
“bowled him over”… What does that mean in laymans terms?
The article fails to mention that he also severely injured Eric’s best friend Brian, who was the only one to survive the accident. Bob remarried the next year and had another child. His step-daughter attended the same junior high school his son had the previous year. Yes. . .this was a crime, a horrific one for all of the victims family and friends. They will never be forgotten!
What cross streets were they?
Bastanchury and State College
Can you tell me what schools the children attended? They look so familiar to me. I grew up in that area.
This truly is sad. Drunken driving has been and always will be a problem; especially around the holidays. The guy who killed Adenhart is up for fifteen years for each person he killed (total of 45 years, of which he’ll probably serve a third of that). There’s no solution other than swlf and social responsibility. If you see someone drunk who is attempting to drive, stop that person by any means necessary (even if it means holding them down and calling the police on someone who may be a good friend). You may lose a friend but at least you’ll have saved a life.
frombackeast, yeah and you will actually be doing them a favor. If someone had done that to the guy who killed Adenhart he would be a lot better off with just a drunk driving charge, or being bummed at his friend than what he is facing now.
Not only will they ruin someone else’s life when they take it and devastate survivers, but they will also be really messing up their own life.
Paroled? pffftt… He should STILL be behind bars. POS!
As for our military killing “Innocent” people? What does collateral damage of sympathetic to terrorists people have to do with some poor dum 455, who drove home drunk and ruined everyone’s life including his own? If you can’t keep your people from throwing rocks at a 900 pound gorilla? Have the sense to dis own them and and fix that problem your self! Otherwise expect a “Darwin award”. Enshalla!
7 yrs. for killing a whole family ? And we scratch our heads and wonder why we still have Drunk Drivers? Why don’t the courts ruin the rest of the drunk drivers lifes like they did to man? Turn around is fair play I say ! Nobody is to blame but the drivers themselves. Qiut trying to figure out why they drive drunk just punish them and when they get out to pay a monthly payment to the victums families for the rest of their lives ? Hey I’m just saying….
This was by all means murder. The jack ass who was behind the wheel should have been locked up for life. I worked with a gentleman who’s son was in the car with the family that was murdered. By the grace of god his son survived but not without very serious injuries. The justice system in CA is horrible. As a victim of crime in OC which resulted life long injuries as result of the crime, the DA’s office pleads far to many cases to lower levels and the judges are far to lenient to criminals. It is just a shame.
If we fired all the drunk cops we would be without law enforcment!
Bitter much, seriously, there have been numerous drunk driving accidents lately, how many have involved a police officer??
The four deceased Truebloods are all interred at a local cemetery right next to my mother. I have viewed their gravesite many times, and wondered at the circumstances of their demise. This horrendous event makes my heart sick, I cannnot fathom the pain that Bob Trueblood had to endure in the aftermath of this accident. Bob, if you perchance read this, my best to you and your family, you will meet up with the lost Truebloods again in a better place than this. Peace to all…
where were they laid to rest?
Loma Vista Memorial Park, off Bastenchury Road in Fullerton.
It would be nice if you had an update on the victims and killers for these “back in the day” crime stories. You know, make it more interesting of an article.
This was a horrible ending to a family and the father who was left alone to go on with his life. On top of that, the man who murdered his family is now walking around society as if nothing happened. I would be curious to know what this man is doing now…..Mr. Trueblood is a ture man
This was a horrible ending to a family and the father who was left alone to go on with his life. On top of that, the man who murdered his family is now walking around society as if nothing happened. I would be curious to know what this man is doing now…..Mr. Trueblood you have proven yourself a TRUE MAN, why? because the man who murdered your family is out there still…. I don’t think he would be walking the face of this earth if this had happened to my family. HATS OFF TO YOU and may you live the rest of your life in peace knowing that one day you will again meet up with your loved ones.