TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

The day after a woman was killed in her home during an apparent burglary, neighbors grappled with the tragedy and what the crime means for their area.

Police found Margy Lou Licastro, 84, dead inside a home in the 1900 block of Baker Street Monday morning after Licastro's husband, Joseph Licastro, 91, called police to report an intruder.

"I've been here 41 years and this has never happened. And Joe and Marge were wonderful people," said Glenn Crowson, one of the owners of the Stairway to Beauty salon next door to the Licastros' home, pausing as he held back tears.

Crowson said the Licastros frequented his business. Margy Licastro came to the salon every Friday and gave him a hug, Crowson said. The salon owner said Joseph Licastro, a veteran and survivor of the attack on Pearl Harbor, was an architect.

"They were just great neighbors and great people," Crowson said.

He worried how Monday's violent crime will impact the neighborhood.

"I'm just afraid this is going to tear us apart," he said. "We all get along and we don't have these problems."

Tuesday evening, a group of about a dozen neighbors and church members met at Emmanuel Lutheran Church across the street from the Licastros' house to pray for Margy Licastro and discuss the state of the neighborhood.

After Rev. Linda Huggard prayed that the community could turn the "moment of violence into a mountain, into a wave of love," residents offered different perspectives of the neighborhood.

Angela Aceves, who lives on Baker Street, said the area "has been going downhill" for the past couple of years.

Aceves said she has seen drug deals and beatings and is trying to sell her home because she doesn't want to raise her great-grandson there.

"It's just a rough neighborhood and I don't want him to go down the wrong road," she said after the meeting.

Crowson was quick to defend the neighborhood's reputation.

"We believe there's still positive in this neighborhood," he said, pointing to the table where he and five employees of his business sat. "People got to believe in their neighborhood. We can't give up."

Discussion leaders Kristie and Bob Coons, members of Emmanuel and leaders of Faith In Action Kern County, said the neighborhood is in transition with a mix of long-time, elderly residents and newcomers. They stressed the importance of reaching out to one another and looking in on neighbors who might be limited because of age or illness.

"I just think we need to know more about one another," Bob Coons said.

After the brief meeting, the gatherers carried pink flowers and candles across the street and placed them on the steps of the Licastro home.

Meanwhile, the suspect in the death of Margy Licastro is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday afternoon.

David Eugene Webster II, 31, was arrested in connection with the killing less than two blocks away from the Licastros' home during what police said was another burglary.

Webster was arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder, first-degree burglary, participation in a street gang, possession of controlled substance paraphernalia and possession of burglary tools.

Kern County Superior Court records show Webster has a history of theft charges. Webster pleaded guilty to petty theft in 1999 and to petty theft and battery on a person in 2000.

In 2001, Webster pleaded no contest to a charge of possession of marijuana for sale. He also pleaded no contest to a charge of disorderly conduct in 2006 and a charge of petty theft with a prior jail term in 2008. He was convicted in all three cases, the court records show.

A 2010 charge of second-degree burglary against Webster was dismissed.

Webster, who was being held in the downtown jail without bail Tuesday, declined to be interviewed.

At the home where Webster was later found by police, just down the street from the Licastros' house, Pauline Mendoza was grateful that she wasn't home when her apartment was burglarized.

"I fear whatever could have happened to me," she said, standing in the living room of her daughter Sabrina Huerta's home. Mendoza lives in a studio apartment behind Huerta's house but was watching a friend's home Sunday night.

Huerta said her husband went out on the back porch to smoke at about 6:15 a.m. Monday when he noticed the screen door of the house was open and recycling bags had been moved. He saw a light on and told his wife someone was in the house.

Sabrina could see someone walking back and forth in her mother's apartment and called police.

The experience was "a little nerve racking," Sabrina said. She said she wants to get a big dog and maybe a gun, but she doesn't think the neighborhood is more dangerous than others.