IRVINE : 18-Year-Old Suspect Arrested in January Turtle Rock Slaying

Police arrested an 18-year-old man Friday in connection with the Jan. 20 murder of a Turtle Rock woman in her home.

Earl Rhoney, a former Irvine resident, was arrested just before 2 p.m. on suspicion of homicide and burglary, according to Lt. Sam Allevato. He was booked into the Orange County Jail.

The body of 45-year-old Patricia Lea Pratt was found in her bedroom at the end of a cul-de-sac on Windflower by her husband, Paul Pratt, when he returned just before midnight from a business meeting.

At the time of the killing, police said Patricia Pratt, a service manager for PacTel Cellular, may have been bludgeoned to death when she interrupted a burglary. Several items of value had been taken from the house, authorities said.

Rhoney was arrested after his release from Orange County Juvenile Hall, where he was being held on a burglary charge, Allevato said.

Police would not say what linked Rhoney to the crime that rocked the community.

Investigators said Pratt had been killed, probably with blows to the upper torso, sometime between 5:30 and 11:45 p.m.

Police officers distributed more than 400 flyers in the neighborhood following the killing in hopes that witnesses would provide them with some leads.

Pratt’s death was the fourth homicide in Irvine since 1990.