Link to Occult Studied in Slaying of Student Near Park : Investigations: The man was slain the night of the summer solstice in hills above Chatsworth.

Ronald Steven Baker, a 21-year-old astrophysics major at UCLA, was by all accounts a deeply serious young man who was searching for spiritual fulfillment.

Baker, who grew up in Woodland Hills, was involved with the Methodist Church he had atended since he was a boy and the student ministry on the UCLA campus. But he also liked to go to the green lawns of Chatsworth Park to meditate. And earlier this year he joined a student group called the Mystic Circle. Through a member of the group, he was studying Wicca, an occult religion that follows a benevolent philosophy of oneness with nature.

Los Angeles police are now investigating whether Baker’s exploration of the occult was what got him killed. The slightly built student who hoped for a career in the aerospace industry was found stabbed to death June 22 at the mouth of a railroad tunnel in the rocky hills above Chatsworth Park. Police at first thought he was a transient who had been hit by a train.

Detectives said Tuesday there are no suspects in the murder. The killing took place on the night of the summer solstice, considered a holy day by followers of the occult. And the tunnel near where Baker was found is known to police as a spot where occult activities have occurred; symbols are painted on the tunnel wall.

But police don’t know why or how Baker ended up there.

“We don’t know if it is an occult-related crime. We are looking at that very hard,” Detective Frank Garcia said. “He was exploring avenues of magic and meditation, metaphysical stuff. . . . We don’t know if at some point he graduated from the light to the dark side of that.”

Confusing the investigation, police said, is the fact that believers in Wicca are against any kind of bloodletting. Additionally, Baker’s parents received two anonymous calls--one before and one after his body was found--in which a caller demanded $100,000 in ransom for Baker’s return. Police believe the calls were made by the killer to throw investigators off the track.

“There were ransom demands placed to the family,” Garcia said. “But they are not what we typically expect in a kidnap. There was no effort made to discuss the mechanics of a money drop or anything like that. My opinion is that it was a ruse by the murderer.”

Baker’s parents were out of town Tuesday and could not be located for comment.

Baker, who shared an apartment in Van Nuys with two other young men, was described by friends as a thoughtful and religious young man, quiet, shy and almost meek. “He was very, very spiritual,” said one student. “He kept to himself.”

“I don’t think that many people knew him well,” said Michael Jura, chairman of the UCLA astronomy department. Among Baker’s interests were astronomy, cycling, a Methodist youth group and Amnesty International.

Tall and slender with curly blond hair, he looked like a student out of the 1960s, favoring tie-dyed T-shirts and blue jeans. He had arranged a summer job at Rocketdyne but during the spring worked at the Renaissance Pleasure Faire making candles.

Like some believers of Wicca, he sometimes wore a pendant with a five-pointed star surrounded by a circle. “The pendant is a protection against evil,” said a friend who asked not to be identified.

Though apparently committed to the Methodist Church, Baker had an open and curious mind.

“He always had strong roots and a healthy faith in the church,” said the Rev. Steven Isenman of the Woodland Hills United Methodist Church, where Baker attended and his mother works as a secretary.

“But he was also very curious about what other people believed,” Isenman said. “That would lead him to want to check things out.”

Earlier this year, he joined a student group called the Society of Bruins for Metaphysical Inquiry.

Known as the Mystic Circle, the society was founded in January by Roland Trevino, a history major. About 15 to 20 students attended lectures sponsored by the group on campus.

The group was more academic than religious, Trevino said. Members gathered to discuss and explore the metaphysical world, rather than to worship, he said. He said many of the people who attended the meetings were followers of Wicca.

Baker had apparently been exploring Wicca before joining the group. But through members of the society he joined a Wicca class and attended his first session at a Pasadena apartment the night before he died.

Detective Patrick Metoyer, Los Angeles Police Department’s expert on the occult, described Wicca as benevolent witchcraft.

“Wicca is basically witchcraft involving the worshiping of all natural things,” Metoyer said. “It is a belief that any and all living specimens have some sort of power base, a mystical presence.

“A real believer would not be involved in bloodletting. It is a benevolent practice. It is a positive and natural magic.”

Gerald A. Larue, an emeritus professor of religion at USC, said the practice of Wicca goes back about 200 years but it is based on ancient rituals and beliefs.

Wicca means the “craft of the wise” or “witchcraft.” But the religion, which worships nature, should not be confused with satanism or black magic, experts said.

“I know of no ritual killings associated with witchcraft, except in popular folklore,” Larue said. “In witchcraft there is no killing of humans or things like that.”

In fact, Larue added, adherents of Wicca reject violence. “They are gentle people, at least the ones I know.”

One of the society’s founders recalled a debate that ensued after the group watched a movie called “The Wicker Man,” which depicted a ritualistic killing. “We had a debate over whether it was right to sacrifice someone, and we decided it wasn’t unless that person was willing,” she said. “Ron was just not into that. He was just into being nice and caring.”

Friends and police said there was no indication that Baker was involved in satanism. “Ron was very adamantly against satanism,” a close friend said.

Garcia said Baker was last seen alive early in the evening of June 21 when friends dropped him off at a bus stop at Van Nuys and Victory boulevards near his Van Nuys apartment.

Garcia said Baker told friends that he was going to a meeting but did not say where. The victim had no car and routinely used buses to go to school and travel around the city, police said.

“After that we don’t know what happened,” said Garcia, who said he believes Baker may have gone to Chatsworth Park to meditate. On Tuesday, police said they were seeking any witnesses who might have seen Baker at the park.

The night before he died, Baker attended a class in the Wicca religion taught by a fellow society member from UCLA. He asked his classmates, she recalled, if they were going to celebrate the summer solstice the next day and was disappointed that they were postponing their celebrations until the weekend.

Baker was undeterred, she said. He told her: “I want to do something on the solstice. I think I’ll just whip something up for myself.”

Staff writers Jeff Ball and Stephanie Stassel contributed to this story.