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Subject: [CAKERN] Death: BALL, Theodore R. (Derby)
Date: 3 Sep 2006 15:19:23 -0600

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Sand Canyon Trainer Killed
The Sheriff's office in Bakersfield said Wednesday afternoon that they would release from custody a Sand Canyon rancher that had been arrested for the apparent murder of his neighbor, a wild animal trainer, early Monday morning.
Theodore R. Ball, also known as Ted Derby, 41, was shot twice, once in the head and once in the chest, with a .38 caliber revolver about 12:25 a.m. Monday, and died a short time later at a Bakersfield hospital. Either of the shots would have been fatal, according to the Sheriff's office. Arrested for the shooting was John D. Coyne, 63, a longtime Tehachapi resident.
After reviewing the case with the District Attorney's office, Det. Higgins, who has been assigned to the case, said that no complaint against Coyne would be filed at this time, pending further investigation into the incident, and he was due to be released from custody later Wednesday afternoon.
Det. Higgins also indicated that there is no known motive for the slaying at this time, and there were indications that Coyne's pickup truck had been struck by several bullets. The detective also said that Coyne would have had to pass Derby's home to reach the homes of several other neighbors' on Sand Canyon Rd. There were almost simultaneous phone calls to the Sheriff's office following the shooting, one from Derby's home, and one from the house that Coyne had gone to.
The events leading up to the slaying evidently started earlier in the evening when Coyne, accompanied by a deputy Sheriff from Tehachapi, went to Derby’s residence after he had received a report some of his cattle may have been butchered on the property. Evidently, Coyne and the deputy were allowed to look around the property, but found no evidence of any butchered animals. The sequence of events that led up to the shooting several hours later is not known at this time, according to Det. Higgins.
Derby, who kept several kinds of wild animals on the property, often furnished the trained animals for television commercials and movies.

Courtesy The Mojave Desert News
Mojave and California City, Kern County, CA
4/15/1976 page 1
Posted by the East Kern Genealogical Society

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