Police arrested Blayne Allen Clifford and booked him in the Kern County Jail for murder for the beating of 40-year-old Patrick Matsuda who was killed outside his Southwest home Sunday.
Police say at least one suspect is still on the loose, but new information explains exactly how police say the fight transpired. Matsuda's wife Annette wants everyone involved in the beating to be punished.
"I hope they catch every single one of them and they'll have to live with this the rest of their lives," Annette Matsuda said.
She saw her husband, a former professional bodybuilder, beaten to death by a group of people with baseball bats, across the street from her Bakersfield home on Whitegate Avenue. Annette Matsuda called 9-1-1, but by the time she reached her husband, it was too late.
"I tried to flip him over and stop his bleeding and tried to give him C.P.R. and he died on the way to the hospital," the widow explained through tears. "I just hope he knows i tried to save him."
Annette Matsuda says her husband was growing tired of the constant partying across the street, so he tried to put a stop to it around 2:30 sunday morning. Police say Patrick Matsuda was beaten and stabbed after reportedly trying to get his neighbors to turn down loud music. Officials say Matsuda made the first move.
"Apparently because of the loud music, Matsuda went over there and confronted two people in the front yard," Bakersfield Police Sergeant Mary DeGeare said. "That's when Patrick Matsuda apparently assaulted a man and was involved with an altercation with him and when the male got away the female became involved and Matsuda assaulted the female."
Sgt. DeGeare says Matsuda punched the man and woman in the face. Investigators report Matsuda then got a baseball bat and the other men grabbed two bats. Matsuda's friend Kevin Purvis finds it all hard to believe.
"Pat was not a confrontational person," Purvis said. "They've had a lot of problems with that house."
Matsuda's friend and co-worker James Zaragoza told 17 News his own suspicions about the loud renters who reportedly killed the father of three.
"To have run-ins, to have people coming and going, you know they're doing drugs in there," Zargoza said. "Absolutely. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure that out."
Zaragoza says his Matsuda often complained about his neighbors at the boarded up house across the street. Police say there were four calls on record since march of last year complaining of loud noise, juveniles drinking, narcotics, and disturbance at the home.
Nineteen-year-old Blayne Allen Clifford was arrested for murder on Sunday evening. Annette Matsuda says it is ironic Clifford reportedly killed her husband, because she helped care for Clifford's step-sister when no one else would.
"That's what's so crazy, I've taken her in and fed her when I couldn't feed her," Annette Matsuda said. "And her family does this."
Police are still looking for a suspect, a white or hispanic male, in his early 20s, around 5'10" with short dark hair, and possibly with a goatee.
The man has tattoos on his arms and on the back of his neck. If you have any information, call Bakersfield Police at (661) 327-7111 or call the secret witness hotline at 322-4040. Police are still investigating other party-goers involved in the murders.
Donations for Patrick Matsuda's memorial can be made to Kern Schools Federal Credit Union account #3273910-00
