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Houses have troubled past Photos by Bob Pennell Medford police have blocked off several vacant homes in the 1000 block of North Central Avenue, where a body was found Tuesday. Derelict homes have seen fires, thefts -- and now a murder By JIM DAVIS and JULIE SWENSEN The homes stood empty in Medford for months, boarded up and abandoned. Neighbors and the city wanted the three homes on North Central Avenue demolished -- especially after problems from fires to homeless camps to theft. Detectives Ray Leach and Ben Miller search for clues behind 1013 N. Central Ave. Tuesday, police found something far worse at the home at 1009 N. Central Ave.: a dead homeless man, beaten to death and left on the front lawn. Howard William Baker, 51, and David Leon Zahner, 37, also both homeless, were arraigned Wednesday on murder and manslaughter charges in the death of 49-year-old Ronald Albert Pageau. Both are being held in the Jackson County Jail without bail. Medford building inspector Ron Gapp said the city shut down all three of the houses in 1996 and declared them dangerous. But he said homeless people have been living in and around the homes, even though he and nearby business owner Allan Murray have tried to keep people out. "I've boarded up 1005 three times, 1009 twice and this will be the third time on 1013," Gapp said. The city would like to demolish the houses, Gapp said, but that isn't as simple as it might sound. All three are owned by Eagle Point resident Henry Broughton, who once ran the now-defunct Rogue Valley Circuits Inc., a printed circuit board plant at 1111 N. Central Ave. Chemical spills in a vacant lot behind the properties resulted in state liens and fines totaling $420,000 against the property, according to county records. Broughton did not return phone calls about the homes on Wednesday evening. Murray, who owns Diamond Doors at 1025 N. Central Ave., has a financial claim on the homes as well, but he doesn't want to take full ownership of the property and assume the responsibility of the fines and liens. He has been trying to work out a deal with the DEQ to take over the property and destroy the homes. Gapp said the city has been reluctant to demolish the buildings, because it would cost the city about $15,000. Gapp said the city has been waiting on the deal between DEQ and Murray. "Once they get it worked out," Gapp said, "it doesn't take much time to bring the tractors in and knock them down." Broughton had renters in the homes until Gapp declared them unsafe in 1996. As recently as a few weeks ago, Medford police used them for training, said Medford Detective Ron Leach, who was at the homes on Wednesday collecting evidence on the slaying. Even so, he said homeless people have been living there off and on. "They're transient," Leach said. "They'll stay where they can." Police do not know whether Pageau and the suspects were living in the homes, but they believe the victim knew both suspects. Witnesses who saw the victim said he'd suffered head injuries, and there was evidence of violence inside the abandoned house next door from where Pageau's body was dumped, said Lt. Tim George of the Medford Police Department. An autopsy was being conducted Wednesday night. Baker has been in trouble with the law before. According to Jackson County court records, he's been convicted of escape, third-degree theft, reckless burning, criminal mischief and driving under the influence of intoxicants. Zahner has no criminal record in Jackson County courts. Pageau also had a record, with convictions for possession of a controlled substance and driving under the influence of alcohol. Pageau would come down to the Medford Gospel Mission to eat occasionally, said Jim Harrison, an afternoon resident desk clerk at the mission. He would stay for the seven consecutive nights allowed, then be back on the streets for 21 days. When people called needing a worker for the day, Pageau went out for jobs so he could earn a few dollars, Harrison said. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA