Mother pleads guilty to murder A mother...

Mother pleads guilty to murder

A mother accused of killing her child in Huntington Beach 35 years

ago pleaded guilty to murder charges at her first court appearance in

Orange County on Oct. 14.

Donna J. Prentice, 57, of Genoa, Wis., was charged with killing

her 3-year-old daughter, Michelle Pulsifer. James Michael Kent, a

62-year-old Lakemore, Ill. resident who was Prentice’s boyfriend at

the time, was also charged with murder, and pleaded not guilty. Both

defendants waived extradition after charges were filed in August.

Michelle disappeared some time around July 4, 1969, and no missing

persons report was ever filed. Prentice and Kent lived together in

Huntington Beach with two other children at the time of Michelle’s

disappearance. The four moved to Illinois after Michelle was gone.

No one has located Michelle’s body, despite five recent

expeditions into Silverado Canyon to search for her remains, Senior

Deputy District Atty. Larry Yellin said. Yellin said he thinks there

is enough evidence to get a conviction without a body.

“I don’t think it’s really going to compromise the case that

much,” he said.

If convicted, Prentice and Kent could be sentenced to anywhere

from five years to life in prison. Their next scheduled court

appearance is a pre-trial hearing set for Dec. 6.

Truck driver killed at Bella Terra site

A truck driver was killed in a construction accident in north

Huntington Beach on Oct. 14.

Juan Carlos Reyes-Flores., 36, of Bakersfield, was killed at about

7:45 a.m. at a construction site near the Mervyn’s on Edinger Avenue,

police said. Reyes was unloading a truck bed filled with storm drain

pipes when a pipe fell on him, causing massive injuries. He was

pronounced dead at the job site.

Reyes-Flores, who worked for Marvin Company, was making his first

delivery to the construction site when he was killed, project manager

Wayne Pettigrew, of J.H. Snyder Co. said.

“We’re very saddened by his loss and the entire site’s very

melancholy,” Pettigrew said.