Offerings of flowers and stuffed animals continued to multiply Monday near a white cross erected to honor a 10-year-old girl who was stabbed to death near her home in southern Lake County.


An envelope left at the memorial read: "Tessa Walker. Our precious fallen angel."

Tessa was killed and her 14-year-old sister, Kristen, was wounded Friday when they were attacked, allegedly by a man who lived around the corner in Hidden Valley Lake, a gated community between Middletown and Lower Lake.

Lake County sheriff's investigators on Monday continued to decline questions about the case, including any possible motive.

Making their first comments, the girls' family offered forgiveness on Monday.

"We forgive the man who took our daughter from us, even for this short time, for by forgiving others, we ourselves are forgiven," Tessa's father, Dr. Ronald R. Walker, said in a written statement.

Walker said his family was relying on its religious faith during a difficult time.

"We are grieving the loss of our precious daughter, Tessa Faith Walker -- a beautiful, intelligent, happy and alive young woman full of dreams, including being a doctor like her daddy -- by this senseless act of violence," he wrote.

"We are very thankful that our daughter, Kristen Marie Walker, is doing well physically and that she is now home with us," he wrote.

Kristen was flown to Children's Hospital in Oakland for treatment of her wounds but had been released and was home by Sunday.

Tessa was a fifth grader at Lower Lake Elementary School, where students are on spring vacation this week.

The father of a former classmate called her "a sweetheart."

"You see things in the news and they say that the person was so wonderful, but in Tessa's case it's so true," said Matt Legg of Guerneville, whose daughter Hannah attended school with Tessa before the family moved last year.

"She was so sweet, and very nice and polite," he said, adding that Kristen frequently accompanied her to play.

"The three of them would tear up the house here," Legg said.

Legg said he didn't know James Roland Pagan, the Walker neighbor who was identified by a witness and arrested shortly after the attack.

Pagan, 31, is expected to be arraigned today in Lake County Superior Court on charges including murder, attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and willful cruelty to a child.

In a brief interview over the weekend, Pagan's mother said he has mental health issues but offered no details. His only prior record in Lake County was a traffic violation, according to court records.

Pagan lived at his parents' home in the subdivision, which they bought in 1991, according to property records.

The corner of Sugarbush Court and Firethorn Road was quiet and seemingly deserted Monday afternoon except for the occasional car slowly driving by the memorial.

The Walker family has remained secluded since the assault and funeral arrangements have yet to be announced.

Ronald Walker has a general medical practice in Lower Lake and previously had a practice in Middletown, said a former patient, Lon Scott, who was sitting outside the Hidden Valley Food Mart on Monday afternoon.

"He's a real caring person," Scott said.

Scott said he was surprised something so violent would happen at the rural subdivision, where gates and guards ward off non-residents from the neighborhoods and adjacent golf course.

"It's the last place you would think it would happen," he said. "I guess it can happen anywhere."

Staff Writer Laura Norton contributed to this report. You can reach Staff Writer Glenda Anderson at 462-6473 or glenda.anderson@

pressdemocrat.com.