YOUNG VICTIM OF VIOLENCE REMEMBERED : SCHOOL ERECTING MEMORIAL GARDEN.

Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer

For three months, Los Angeles police have tried to figure out who killed 11-year-old Paul Youhanian - while his classmates, and people who never knew the boy, have been working to keep his memory alive.

There's not much to see yet, but soon a flower and vegetable garden with a tiered fountain and a bench will occupy a corner of Santa Clarita Elementary School, where Paul was a sixth-grader.

He was slain the night of Oct. 5, when a bullet pierced the mini-van carrying his mother and toddler brother and hit Paul in the head. The crime at Sherman Way near Whitsett Avenue remains unsolved, said homicide Detective Mike Coffey of the LAPD's North Hollywood station.

While the investigation continues, children and adults from the slain boy's school and community have, bit by bit, pooled their ideas, money, labor and materials to create something of beauty and serenity out of tragedy.

Paul's mother, father and stepfather gave his computer to teacher Ingrid Boydston's class. They wanted his classmates to get some use out of it, said Myron Groch, principal at Santa Clarita Elementary.

The boys and girls in Boydston's class decided a garden would be a nice tribute to Paul. The donations have been rolling in ever since, Groch said.

Sharon Sosa, whose son attends Santa Clarita, wrote a letter to Los Angeles radio station KBIG-FM that, along with Paramount Pictures, ran a promotion to seek out and help worthy causes. The letter was read on the air, after which the station and the movie studio pledged Santa Clarita Elementary would receive the needed supplies to build a garden, said publicist Paul Sansone.

Topsoil, fertilizer, gravel, landscaping stones, plumbing and electrical supplies for the fountain and assorted flower bulbs and plants were donated to the school, Sansone said.

Before a garden could be planted on the 12-by-50-foot plot of land, Groch said, somebody had to remove the asphalt on that section of the playground.

Davis Zaiet, whose 5-year-old daughter is a kindergartner at Santa Clarita Elementary, just happened to have a jackhammer.

The Sun Valley general contractor and other volunteers spent a Saturday digging through asphalt and concrete. ``I just wanted to get involved,'' Zaiet said. He next hopes to persuade the managers of local home improvement stores to donate the lumber needed to build the terraced garden on the sloping patch of ground.

Another community member volunteered to haul away the chunks of debris and take them to a local recycling center, where dumping fees of about $100 were waived and the old asphalt and concrete were ground up to make roadbed, Groch said.

Sheldon Sparks, 28, said he was glad he - and his dump truck - could lend a hand to help memorialize ``this child who got taken in a very tragic way.''

``My wife is a teacher . . . at Bouquet Canyon Elementary, and I've grown up here my whole life,'' explained Sparks, who owns a Saugus demolition company. ``When a member of the community dies, it feels like a member of the family.''

To keep critters from munching - and children from trampling - the garden's crops, the project needed a fence. A company in North Hollywood donated the chain-link fence and gate, and parent John Lang installed it around the plot near Seco Creek.

Lang's 5- and 11-year-old daughters attend Santa Clarita Elementary. ``My oldest daughter was in Paul's class last year,'' he mused. ``She and her group of friends were pretty shaken up'' by the killing, he said.

A local landscaper volunteered to design the garden, suggesting plants that would flourish in the climate and on the plot of land, Groch said. A local home improvement store donated the bench for the garden; another sold the school the concrete tiered fountain at a discount. A Santa Clarita Valley nursery also pledged its help.

Groch said the school will hold a dedication ceremony once the garden is finished, and everyone who helped or donated - the school also has received $700 cash from parents and residents - will be invited.

Meanwhile, Coffey said police have no leads despite the rewards posted for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Paul's killer.

``We have no idea of the motive nor the way this crime occurred,'' Coffey said. ``It could be accidental, it could be random, it could be intentional.''

Police have been thwarted in that they never could find the bullet, and no witnesses have come forward. ``It's a busy intersection, and no one saw anything?'' Coffey asked rhetorically.

On the wall next to his desk, Coffey noted, is a snapshot of Paul that appeared to have been taken on a vacation. The boy's smiling face is a constant reminder that his killer is still at large, said Coffey, a 17-year veteran of the homicide squad.

``No matter how long it takes, I'm sure (Paul's family) wants the case solved. That's the way we feel at the Police Department,'' Coffey said.

CAPTION(S):

Photo

Photo: Paul Youhanian

Bullet pierced vehicle