By Larry Judkins
Glenn County Observer
Orland has had another stabbing.
The earlier one was less than a month ago, when four people were stabbed at a residence on Plumas Street.
As for the more recent incident, at about 9:44 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 2, Orland police officers responded to a report of an assault at 226 East Shasta Street.
Roughly four minutes later, the Orland Volunteer Fire Department was dispatched and told to stage for a stabbing until law enforcement cleared the scene.
A couple of minutes later, Orland Police Sergeant Sean Johnson reported that a tourniquet had been applied to the victim. Orland Officer Brandon Sutton also responded to the scene.
Firefighters began arriving at about 9:54 p.m. At 10 p.m., the victim, Jeffrey Alan Montero, age 54 or 55, of Orland, was transported by Westside Ambulance to the hospital (presumably Enloe in Chico).
A rider (an Orland firefighter) was also on board the ambulance.
Between about 9:54 and 10 p.m., there seemed to be some uncertainty on the part of the fire dispatcher in Corning as to whether there was one stabbing victim or two.
Shortly after 10 p.m., it was reported that there was indeed a second patient, this one located in the area of East Shasta Street and Papst Avenue.
At approximately 10:22 p.m., Sgt. Johnson said that this patient, the suspect in the stabbing, was being transported by ambulance to a hospital (presumably Glenn Medical Center in Willows), and he (Sgt. Johnson) was on board.
According to the Glenn County Jail’s media release, the suspect, Christopher Lee Kavanaugh, 21, of Orland (the sheriff’s log said he was from Magalia), was booked on charges alleging assault with a deadly weapon other than a firearm (a felony).
The jail’s media release also stated that Kavanaugh’s bail was set at “$0.00”, which some readers interpreted as meaning “no bail”. It actually means that the suspect could be released after booking without posting any bail at all.
This, however, is something that generally isn’t done with someone accused of committing a violent felony. So, to eliminate any confusion, The Observer called the jail on Saturday for clarification.
The Observer was told Kavanaugh’s bail was actually set at $25,000. At the time of the call, Kavanaugh was still in custody in the jail.
The sheriff’s log listed the following people as having some sort of involvement in the incident:
Involved Party: Christopher Lee Kavanaugh of Magalia;
Involved Party: Maria Guadalupe Cuin-Garduno of Orland;
Involved Party: Katelynn Gochenouer of Orland; and
Victim: Jeffrey Alan Montero of Orland.
On the “Orland ‘What’s All the Sirens For?’” Facebook page, Savanna Newhall, who said she is Kavanaugh’s sister, posted that both Kavanaugh and his girlfriend (Katelynn Gochenouer, according to one of Gochenouer’s Facebook pages) told her that Kavanaugh “was protecting her [Gochenouer] from being r@p3d [raped] by her [Gochenouer’s] step dad while they were sleeping and the step dad stabbed him [Kavanaugh] in the hand and then my brother stabbed him 4 times.”
Given that Newhall was not a witness to the incident, this statement is, of course, hearsay. Even Newhall seemed somewhat skeptical, writing elsewhere in her post, “I’m still so confused on what happened and why my brother was the one arrested, but I also don’t know the full true story…. Do they ever give more info on like what actually happened or ?”
Another woman, Melissa Joy Lesher-Thompson, who said that she is Kavanaugh’s mother, posted that she “[doesn’t] believe what Chris says.”
Newhall’s post was later removed.
Watch The Glenn County Observer for updates regarding this incident.
The Glenn County Observer 