What started as a casual house party ended with three people stabbed in what Monterey County Sheriff’s investigators now believe was the violent culmination of an online obsession that crossed international borders.
The bizarre events unfolded the evening of Nov. 24, just before 10 p.m., when county sheriff deputies were sent to a home in the 300 block of Bollenbacher Drive in the Bolsa Knolls area northeast of Salinas. They arrived to discover three people suffering from stab wounds.
Detectives believe that Devin Wolfgang Vandorhoef, 25, and a woman who lives at the home knew each other from their interactions on a gaming platform and that Vandorhoef developed a years-long obsession with her, according to sheriff’s officials.
He was so obsessed that he and suspected accomplice Darius Avery Whyte, 25, allegedly flew down from their homes in Canada to show up at the victim’s door, where Vandorhoef allegedly posed as a delivery driver with a package to force his way inside, sheriff’s officials said.
“The victim’s boyfriend opened the door and the suspect immediately starts stabbing the boyfriend,” said Monterey Sheriff’s Cmdr. Andres Rosas.
The woman armed herself with some type of metal object and used it to attack Vandorhoef in an attempt to defend her boyfriend and was then subsequently attacked by Vandorhoef, who allegedly choked and stabbed her, Rosas said.
“The victim’s boyfriend opened the door and the suspect immediately starts stabbing the boyfriend.” Cmdr. Andres Rosas
Vandorhoef and the boyfriend were admitted to the hospital in critical condition but are expected to survive. The woman’s injuries weren’t considered life-threatening.
Handcuffs, duct tape and knives
During the course of the initial investigation, detectives found that the box Vandorhoef was carrying contained handcuffs, duct tape and knives, Rosas said.
Deputies also talked to Whyte, who was found in the neighborhood but allowed to leave after he said he wasn’t involved in the alleged crimes.
He was arrested the next morning, however, while sitting on a plane at San Jose Mineta International Airport trying to return to Canada, according to sheriff’s officials.
“They both knew what the plan was and they both knew what was going on,” Rosas said.
Vandorhoef was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, conspiracy, mayhem, stalking and burglary and was being held in custody on more than $4.1 million bail.
Whyte was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and conspiracy; his bail was set at $1 million.
