3 Teen Brothers Arrested in Slaying

Three teenage brothers have been arrested in the beating death of an 81-year-old woman who Southeast Los Angeles neighbors described as beloved, police said.

The boys--ages 13, 14 and 15--were taken into custody early Thursday at their home in the 10000 block of South Anzac Avenue, not far from where Ruby Scott’s body was found Aug. 1.

The boys, whose names were not released because they are minors, are expected to be arraigned next week on suspicion of murder and burglary, said LAPD homicide Det. John Zambos.

Neighbors described Scott, who lived alone, as a sweet woman with a penchant for sweeping a large stretch of sidewalk in her neighborhood of 40 years. She swept so long and far that residents and employees at a nearby day-care center would gently prod her back home.

“She was an honest, independent, God-fearing lady, and she was very hard-working,” said neighbor Henry Scott, 70, who was not related to her.

She also stood up to gang members and people up to no good, Henry Scott said.

“If someone was up to something, she’d say, ‘Whatever you’re looking for, you can’t find in this harm you’re doing. You need to find the Lord,’” he recalled.

But Ruby Scott increasingly feared boys who hung around a vacant house next door. Neighbors said a group of boys, including the brothers, would taunt Scott, who was losing her hearing. They would also toss trash from her bins on her frontyard, smoke pot, vandalize property and jump on the roofs of neighborhood homes.

The brothers’ father said he does not believe his children are capable of murder. The 58-year-old said his boys could be troublemakers, but they “respect their elders.”

He said that after his 13-year-old son was temporarily taken into custody several months ago, he confronted him.

“‘Did you do this?’ I asked him,” he said. “He said, ‘No, how could you think that?’”

But Zambos said he’s confident police have Ruby Scott’s killers. “Old-fashioned police work” on the streets and some physical evidence led to the arrests, he said.

Scott may have caught the boys in the act of burglarizing her home, Zambos said. Henry Scott found her body amid broken glass in her home several days after her death.

“She once said, ‘Mr. Henry, if you ever hear me hollering, don’t forget to come and see about me,’” Henry Scott said Friday. “I think she had a premonition.”