The views and opinions expressed in Cold and Missing are exclusively those of the hosts. All parties mentioned are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Cold and Missing also contains adult themes and languages and is intended for a mature audience. Listener discretion is advised. Hello everyone and welcome back. Welcome back everyone. I am your co-host Eli Sulkowski and this is my beautiful, talented, next to perfect wife.
Ali McLaughlin Sulkowski and I am your host for Cold and Missing where we cover cold cases and unresolved missing person cases. So for this week we have a cold case. Yes this week we are covering a cold case and just a content warning at the top here, we are going to be talking about violence against a child today. Thank you for that content warning, much appreciated baby.
So today we are going to be talking about the cold case of Jennifer Delgado and this takes place June 6th, 1988 in San Antonio, Texas. First a little bit about Jennifer. Jennifer is 8 years old in 1988. She was born August 24th, 1979 and she had just finished her third grade year at Westwood Terrace Elementary School. She's described as a soft spoken, sweet and caring child and she was known for wearing a red Mexican style dress in class.
A classmate of hers says, quote, everybody liked her, she was a good student, end quote. And that is Chris Palmer who we're actually going to be talking a lot about in this case because he's worked really hard to keep Jennifer's story active and in the media. So on Monday, June 6th, 1988, Jennifer and her mother Melinda Delgado, who is 25 years old are doing laundry at a laundromat across the street from their apartment on the west side of San Antonio.
And this is at the corner of what is now West Rock Drive and Highway 90. As of 2023, it's a credit union, but in 1988, the laundromat was located in a strip mall with a convenience store next door and a beauty salon next to that. Jennifer's father was across the street at their home with Jennifer's other siblings. At around 8 p.m., Jennifer and Melinda are sitting in chairs near the front door drinking sodas and doing the family's laundry.
Jennifer and Melinda are alone in the coin operated laundromat. Eventually, a young man enters the laundromat. He's wearing a white floral patterned shirt and is described as being in his late teens or very early 20s. This man, he enters the laundromat just to use the soda machine. This is 1988, so it was 50 cent sodas. And the guy puts his coins into the soda machine and it eats his money. No soda comes out, he doesn't get a refund.
This guy flies into a fit of rage and starts kicking and hitting the vending machine. He then produces a knife and stabs Melinda on her left side. Melinda screams for Jennifer to run home to her father and as Jennifer gets up to run, the man stabs her in her stomach. Jennifer and Melinda run across the street to their home, but Jennifer collapses in the yard and Melinda is yelling for her husband and for help.
A neighbor, Vicki Martina, says, quote, she ran across the street with her daughter in her arms screaming. I wrapped a towel around the little girl before the ambulance arrived. Melinda was talking, but Jennifer had passed out, end quote. Meanwhile, the killer had gotten to a gray or silver two door sedan. The car was driven by another man who police say may have been unaware of the stabbing that had just occurred inside of the laundromat.
The car is described as either a Honda or a Chevrolet Chevette. The car drove south toward US Highway 90. Jennifer and Melinda are rushed to Wilford Hall Air Force Medical Center. Melinda is in critical condition, but survives the attack. However, Jennifer will pass away around 11 p.m. that evening from her wounds. Back at the laundromat, police immediately begin investigating the scene. They try to pull fingerprints from the coins the suspect used at the soda machine.
Police say, quote, this has got to be one of the most senseless murders. To stab a small child like that without any reason, we don't have any motive. We don't have any reason for it. We don't have anything, end quote. And that's Detective John Lopez of San Antonio PD. And then Chris Palmer, who is very familiar with this case, that is Jennifer's childhood friend. He's obviously an adult now. He says, quote, talking to Jennifer's mother, she didn't know who the person was.
So it's not like there was any kind of anything against the family in particular. It was just, I don't know what would cause someone to, you know, they're trying to get a soda from the vending machine. It doesn't work. I'm just going to stab someone. What was going on in that person's mind? End quote. So this is still June of 1988, but the end of June. So two weeks after Jennifer's murder, police announced that they are at a standstill with the case.
Hoping to drum up some new leads on the case, the police will release a sketch of the suspect. Chris Palmer says, quote, in talking to the mother, she was able to give them some details and they put up a sketch. End quote. Jennifer's mother, Melinda, described the attacker as 17 or 18 years old, five foot two, clean shaven, long dark wavy hair, a slender build, and is described as either a Hispanic or white male. At the end of June, Jennifer is also laid to rest.
But then we really don't hear too much. At the one year anniversary, so this is June 6th of 1989, police announced that the case has come to a standstill. Over the last year, 17 people of interest emerged. That list was narrowed down to three and then down to zero. Everybody was able to provide an alibi that checked out according to police.
In June of 2001, so this is 13 years since Jennifer's murder, Chris Palmer organizes a candlelit vigil to remember Jennifer and get her case back into the media. Local news covered the event and a priest comes to pray with the group gathered. Those in attendance talk about memories they had of Jennifer. Chris says, quote, it was just nice, us getting together, remembering her, and it was nice to know that I wasn't the only one that did not, had not forgotten about her, end quote.
Despite the media coverage, no new leads are discovered. In April 2012, so this is around 24 years since Jennifer had been murdered, police announced that they are reopening the case and relooking at everything and hoping to get a more detailed fingerprint impression from those coins and hoping that by working that piece of evidence a little bit more, something will come up.
However, as of today, 2023, nothing has really come to light as far as those fingerprints or the 2014 reopening of the investigation. In 2021, so this is 33 years now, Chris Palmer establishes the Jennifer Sue Delgado Memorial Foundation to keep her memory alive and benefit students through scholarships and books. In August of 2021, the San Antonio police say, quote, at this point in the investigation, all possible leads have been exhausted.
We ask anyone with information on this case to call our detectives at 210-207-7635. In June of 2022, so this is 34 years now that Jennifer has been gone, Chris Palmer is able to raise thousands of dollars to dedicate part of West Rock Drive as the Jennifer Sue Delgado Memorial Way. The signs are erected where the laundromat once stood. Also through the foundation, they're able to award the first scholarship in Jennifer's name and they were able to purchase a book.
So every student at Jennifer's elementary school, Westward Terrace Elementary, had a book to read over the summer. So that was all done in Jennifer's memory, which is really beautiful. On August 24th, 2002, on what should have been Jennifer's 43rd birthday, police asked the public for help in closing her case. And then September 2022, Chris Palmer requested the Texas Attorney General for their help in the investigation.
And so in 2021, the Attorney General created a cold case and missing person office to help local law enforcement. So Chris Palmer reaches out to them and they agreed to help investigate Jennifer's case and to look into it. In the 34 years since Jennifer's been murdered, there has been no suspect in this case, nobody ever named in this case. And that is where we currently are as of 2023.
Hopefully with the Texas Attorney General stepping in, hopefully there'll be a little bit more movement on this case and they're able to work some more evidence from the scene that hopefully they were able to collect at the time and hopefully new DNA, new fingerprint technology, we're able to drum up some suspects to look into because this is such a senseless crime.
If you know anything about what happened to Jennifer in June of 1988, you are encouraged to call the San Antonio Homicide Unit at 210-207-7635 or to remain anonymous, you can call Crime Stoppers at 210-224-7867. And then the sources for today's podcast come from Ken 5 Eyewitness News, WAITV, The San Antonio Report, KSAT12, KTSA, News4SA, and The Criminal Journal. Okay, so do you have any questions? Yeah, my first question is to ask if there was cameras.
I assume no. Yeah, no in 1988, or at least nothing that was reported. Yeah, I mean it sounded like maybe it was kind of small townish environment as well. You know, like their home was across the street from the laundromat is what I'm saying. So you know, if it was like a more of like a smaller town, they may not be as high tech as like they were living in like a really big, busier city, you know. Well this is San Antonio, Texas.
I know, but I just didn't know if like where they lived was like a smaller pocket inside of San Antonio. Maybe like it maybe it did have like more of a neighborhood feel, but I think more than anything it was just the date like 1988. I don't think it was very common yet for cameras to be at a laundromat. Like maybe at banks and stuff they had kind of been introduced, but they had made it to the laundromat yet.
It's wild what a jump in technology we've had from then to now because like you know we have little cameras all over our house and it's so easy and like pretty affordable to like have a makeshift security system.
So like I don't know I think about that a lot and like just like one camera would have that's all you really would have needed at the time, you know, especially because it's like the middle of the day like a camera on someone very clearly an individual who's like acting erratic like you'll be able to see that person's face, you know. I have less questions and more just like man the lack of everything at the time. And like the behavior is just bizarre.
Yeah I don't know how common it would have been to like stop into a laundromat for a soda because from what I could find there was a convenience store next door. I would think that is the more logical place to go get a soda. But maybe it was closed, you know, it was later at night it was 8 p.m. I also this is very specific but at my small like college that I went to there was one place on campus that had a vending machine that never changed their prices of soda.
So it was like I'm pretty sure it was 75 cents but when I was there, you know, in 2011 it was still 75 cents the whole time. So I would like walk across campus to get a soda from that place and a lot of people did because it was cheaper. Yeah so maybe it's something like that. It's just like a known thing. That's why I asked if it was like a small town environment if like there's like a weird thing in that town where everyone's like this is where the cheap soda is.
Kind of what I think here and I you know looking at maps of where the laundromat used to be there is an Air Force base really close by and this being described as like a young man like Melinda said 17 or 18 in her description which is that's a high schooler you know that's a young person. Yeah and I mean did they say anything about the hair like it's long. No it was long. Well you like wouldn't be let in without your hair cut first so. I guess that's true.
But if he's 17 he wouldn't have been able to anyway but I don't know I guess if I don't know. Yeah the sketch which I think that's worth mentioning though definitely. Yeah the sketch that the police released will upload it onto our Instagram so that way people can see it as well but yeah it is somebody with like long like a man with hair to his shoulders which like in the 80s I do not think they allow long hair in the Air Force. I don't think they allow it now.
I'm thinking about my best friend's husband you know who's in the military and he's always got it. Yeah I don't yeah. He's like every two weeks like. Yeah I think for men it's still kind of like you can't touch your collar yeah kind of vibe. But no I think that's worth mentioning that's like a large population of people right in that area too like of a specific like they're all doing the same thing.
Yeah and when you look at like according to newspaper reports they fled south and that would have brought them into the highway which would have led them into the Air Force base where it's ultimately where Melinda and Jennifer went for care that evening you know they went to the Air Force Medical Center. Yeah this case though I just really broke my heart and Chris Palmer will include the foundation if you want to donate to the Jennifer Sue Delgado Memorial Fund.
And if you can't donate just at least share. Yeah we'll include that in our show notes so that way you can see the work that he's trying to do and establish for Jennifer as you know in reading interviews with Chris as he got older it really like hit him like how senseless this was and you know he has a daughter now and like when she turned eight he was like this is like how could anybody do that. How could anybody over a soda like over 50 cents you know like you're going to stop to people.
Like that I would think that somebody who is operating with that kind of like anger and rage and reaction in them may have committed a crime again you know I would imagine that a violent crime could be tied to this person. That's very unpredictable it's messy you can tell that that person was not like it wasn't a planned killing or if it was they certainly weren't in their right mind when they were doing it. Before we continue on that I wanted to just like speak to Chris a little bit.
I think that there's a lot of different versions that a person can become after facing something like that and the fact that like he made it his life's work to build something really beautiful out of these like tragedies and not in like a I don't know like self-seeking way.
Like it really is just like awareness and giving back to the community like you know like a tragedy can really turn someone into someone that they didn't want to become and I think it's beautiful that he like chose this for himself and like his community in the world obviously.
Yeah and for Jennifer like it's yeah exactly yeah you know I it was really hard to find news reports on her which I think is really sad because this young girl like deserves I say this every single time we talk about anybody but it's like they deserve justice you know like every case deserves to get worked and this little girl's like really deserves to get worked you know she's yeah she deserves she deserved more she deserved more in this
life than what she got and her family deserves some closure in that. So again if you know anything oh honey. Well I think the thing that got me was that like when you said what the foundation was for it was like for books and what was the other thing.
So a scholarship is awarded to a senior in the school district and they raise money their goal is to raise money every single year to send every student from Jennifer's elementary school home with a book for the summer for them to read and then they wanted to erect the memorial way and get a part of the road dedicated which they have accomplished they were able to raise all the money get it through city council and everything so that is up and you can see it today if you're in San Antonio.
What I was going to say about that what got me listening to that was like usually for foundations especially people you know who pass later in life and it's a memorial fund it's about something like very specific that they that they cared about you know and like what got me was that like she didn't even have that like we never got to know that about her family never got to know if like it was like a dancing scholarship or like you know
if she was really passionate about science or like like she didn't get to like have like those things so it just like don't exist for her. I don't know that like really hit me for some reason that like oh you didn't even get to develop your special interest like your special little thing or maybe she was like just finding it yeah and just like right not here anymore I don't know yeah because somebody got angry at a vending machine yeah.
Again if you know anything about what happened to Jennifer in 1988 please call the San Antonio Homicide Unit at 210-207-7635 or to remain anonymous you can call Crime Stoppers at 210-207-7635 or to remain anonymous you can call Crime Stoppers at 210-224-7867.
Wow thanks for you know taking the time to find that case I'm sure it was kind of buried like a lot of the ones honestly when you tell me about your research process so I feel grateful to have like learned about Jennifer and the family yeah I'm hoping more people will talk about them now. Yeah that's always my goal is to find cases that have never really gotten a lot of media coverage.
If you have a case that's really important to you in your life if you want us to cover it please email us at coldandmissing at gmail.com or you could reach out to us on Instagram you can follow us coldandmissing our DMs are open feel free to contact us through there as well.
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And if you're in your podcast app now go ahead and rate and review us give us a thumbs up five stars a written review you know what I'm asking you to do wherever you're at the more people that give us a positive review the more people get to hear about these cases ultimately the algorithm is in charge of all of us. That's the goal. Yeah so thank you so much and have a good week y'all stay safe. Stay safe y'all.