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. Listener discretion is advised. I'm your host, Ali McLaughlin-Sulkowski. And I'm your co-host, Eli Sulkowski. And this is Cold and Missing, where we cover cold cases. And missing person cases. Hello, welcome back to Cold and Missing. I'm Ali. And I'm Eli.
Welcome back, everyone. We're on episode 93 this week. And this is a cold case, I believe. Yes, we're on a cold case. Do you think we should just go ahead and get into it? Let's do it. Today, we are covering the cold case of Julian Quintero. And this takes place in Oak Hills, which is in Monterey County, California. This Oak Hills is an unincorporated community. There is another Oak Hills, California that is more Southern California, while this is Northern California.
Oak Hills, Monterey County is near Salinas, California and Castroville. And this takes place in January of 2017. But first, a little bit about Julian. Julian is 20 years old in 2017. He had grown up in Castroville, California. And he had recently graduated from North Monterey County High School, where he had lettered in football, track and baseball. In my high school, that was like a big deal if you triple lettered in something.
It was, there was like a ceremony every year for each athlete who did it. Or you know, we had them for the arts, like I lettered in drama. So there was like a big ceremony if you got three of something. Julian was very popular at his high school. He was even voted prom king his senior year. After high school, he started to attend the Monterey Peninsula College, but he had plans to transfer to a bigger four year college. Julian's nickname was Captain for his favorite character, Captain America.
He loved what the character stood for, standing up to bullies, choosing to do what's right in the face of what's difficult, and choosing your own destiny. Julian's mother, Lupe, said, quote, he liked what Captain America stood for. Captain America stood for people, end quote. I know it tends to be a cliche in the true crime community, but Julian's smile truly lit up his whole face and therefore the whole room.
Gilbert II, Julian's older brother, said, quote, my little brother was universally loved. He was always smiling. He was very happy, very vibrant. Julian is probably the only person I've ever met I could never be angry at. He did everything great. He was good at sports, popular at school, extremely good looking. He was just a perfect kid, end quote. Julian was truly a superhero. He worked multiple jobs to support himself and his education, but he still found time for his family and friends.
Everyone that Julian encountered seemed to be a better person because of it. It truly seems like his brother said that he was universally loved. And now a timeline of events. On Saturday, June 21, 2017, Julian had been invited to a house party. It was a party being thrown for the nearby high school seniors. Julian, being in college and already graduated, wasn't too keen on going. After some convincing, he decided to go.
He told his mom and before leaving the house, his mother Lupe reminded him that if he needed a ride, he could call her and she would come get him no problem. By the time Julian arrived at the party in Oak Hills, California, it was in full swing. There were around 90 people there. Upon arriving, Julian assumed the role of bouncer. He wanted to make sure that no one got into the party that wasn't invited. However, word began to spread around the community about the party.
Shortly after assuming the role of bouncer, around 11.51 p.m., some uninvited guests arrived at the party. It's unclear exactly how many people showed up in this group of uninvited guests. All we know for sure is that it was more than one person. Since Julian was manning the door and these folks were not invited, he refused to let them in. Pretty quickly, a verbal argument turns into a fight.
Again, there are no real details about what happened during the fight or even how many people were involved in it outside of Julian. The fight ends with gunshots. Julian had been shot three times in the back. His mom is still up and waiting for him to come home. Her phone began to ring. She assumed that Julian was calling because he needed a ride. Luke Bay says, quote, So when I got the phone call a little bit before midnight, I got a call from his phone and I thought, okay, here I go.
I'm going to go pick him up, you know. But then they told me that he got shot and they were taking him to Natividad. End quote. Natividad is a hospital in nearby Salinas, California. It's unclear if it was on the way to the hospital or at the hospital. But in the early morning hours of January 22nd, 2017, Julian passes away. On January 29th, this is just one week after the murder of Julian. His family hold a vigil and a march in honor of his memory.
A member of the vigil said, quote, Our community is going to take a stand. This is not what this community represents. End quote. Over a thousand people showed up to march for Julian. Almost all of them were wearing a Captain America shirt. Over the next year, it's unclear exactly what is done in Julian's case. What seems clear is that the police are waiting for witnesses from the party to come forward. As mentioned before, it's reported that at least 90 people were at the party.
So somebody knows something. In December of 2017, it's approaching a full year since Julian's death. The family write a memorial to Julian in the paper. It says, quote, It's so hard to comprehend you are no longer physically here. What I would give to have one more kiss, hug, hear your voice and be able to tell you how much I love you and so proud of you I am. May God hear our prayers for justice that you and others desperately deserve. You died being a hero and doing the right thing.
I love you, my precious son, end quote. In September of 2018, so this is a year and a half since Julian's murder, his parents speak at a gathering for the National Day of Remembrance, which is held to remember murder victims. His dad, Gilbert Quintero says, quote, I wish I could have been there. I go to his grave and I cry and I smoke my cigarette and I talk to him. I miss my son. He was my best friend and he knew everything about me. Because of him, I've been clean for 15 years.
I want justice, end quote. In January of 2020, so it had been three years since Julian was killed, and still police have no leads in their case. At the three year mark, his mother Lupe says, quote, I just want today to be a reflection of Julian's love. I don't want sadness. I want to choose the good memories of his life. I want to choose what Julian signified to each one of us. And a lot of that is love. And I just don't want to give up on the pursuit of justice, end quote.
In July of 2020, so it's been three and a half years since Julian was murdered at the House Party, Julian's mother Lupe firmly believes that people know who the uninvited party guests were. There were a lot of witnesses to Julian's murder. However, despite there being so many people at the party, no substantial leads have been developed in the case. Lupe says, quote, it's devastating to lose a child. It is the worst pain you can ever imagine. I don't care about my feelings.
I want justice for Julian, end quote. But that is truly all we know about the murder of Julian Quintero. So if you know anything, please call the Monterey County Sheriff's Office at 888-833-4847. So that is the case of Julian Quintero. I'm sure that I will mention her more than once, but I first just want to send my love out to Julian's mom. The love she has for her son and family is so palpable. And this is a loss, you know, that I don't understand fully.
But I just really felt the weight of what she must be going through and sending my love to her. And I'm sure our listeners are as well. Yeah, unfortunately, I couldn't find a ton of information. And some of our listeners might have noticed in the last few episodes, they've been a little shorter just because maybe they're newer in years. So there hasn't been years of coverage on a case. But I still think that these are just as important to tell and I want to get into them.
And a big part of, you know, all the information I was able to gather was because of Julian's mother. And she's worked so hard to have justice for her son and to try to get answers and to keep his name like going in the media. She's like, she's not backing down and she's not going anywhere. And like her, the power behind her is like very palpable. Like she's a very strong woman. Yes, they're incredibly strong. And that strength was so clearly passed down to Julian.
It sounded like he was living his life exactly the way she raised him. And though I haven't seen a picture of him yet, I in hearing about him and the way he lived his life, I could hear and almost feel his smile and the way that you talked about him, which really just paves the way for such a devastating heartbreak of a loss and not having this young man here anymore.
Something that I found very interesting about him and just the environment he was in that night and being at the party is that he assumed that position of bouncer at the door and, you know, I had been to my fair share of high school parties when I was in high school and I don't ever really remember anyone doing something like that with the intention of I don't want anyone to get in that shouldn't be here.
I definitely remember maybe a couple like small groups of people like hanging near the front door, but never anyone who was on patrol specifically protecting the people inside. But that rings true to what he was like as a person. I just find it interesting that he did that. And I wonder if that was something something he did at other parties that had happened throughout high school years amongst his friends. I'd be curious to know or if it if he had a feeling that night, you know.
Yeah, I believe Julian's mother said, you know, he was being a hero, like he was doing something like brave. And you know, I think truly he was like being a guardian over everyone at that party because people did try to get in that had a gun, you know, like there could have been multiple tragedies at this party that night, depending on how everything shook out. If Julian wasn't at that door, like you just don't know.
But it's like these people were trying to get into a high school party with a gun. Like there's no reason for that. So you know, he was truly being a hero as just like acting as a guardian. Something that I think is important to say or maybe worth mentioning is that Julian and all of the high schoolers at that party are no stranger to gun violence, not a single one of them. And I mean this in the best way, with the best of intentions and so delicately.
But like children, including Julian, should not have to be heroes in the face of gun violence in any capacity. Yeah, the generation, you know, right after us were in our mid 30s, like active shooter drills in schools was like a necessary part, unfortunately, of the curriculum. Like it's just something that all schools had had to kind of be ready for. And unfortunately, like time and time again, like we've seen that it happens anywhere.
You know, there's no rhyme or reason and everyone unfortunately has to be prepared. And it's so sad that kids have to be on guard like that and that Julian lost his life to gun violence. And that's unfair as an understatement. And it's tragic. It's just tragic. For me, I think one of the biggest questions in this case, besides, you know, who were these uninvited guests exactly, is like kind of identifying every person that was at that party. There were 90 people there.
It's hard to imagine that granted it is a possibility, but it's hard to imagine that these people and again, we don't know how big the group was if it was two, three, four, five people that showed up uninvited that they were cruising around happened upon a party and we're just going to like go inside. I mean, that is a possibility. But to me, it kind of sounds like, oh, they were told by someone. So like, how do you break down that chain of communication? Who told them?
Were they told by somebody who was told by somebody like, either way, if somebody knows them, somebody knows who these people are, I deeply feel that. And if not, then why haven't more witnesses come forward with descriptions if they were complete strangers and nobody's protecting anybody? It's just somebody knows something and 90 people, somebody saw something, somebody saw the car, somebody and maybe police do have more information than what we have.
But it just seems like a lot of people and granted not all 90 eyes would have been on this when it happened. That's a lot of people. They were probably spread throughout the house. But I'm sure there were people who saw it. A lot of people, I would imagine.
I would think that with whatever an investigation for a crime like this looks like, would just from the beginning would be so messy because you are relying on the memory of children who have maybe been drinking or, you know, what have you, in a moment where they're also probably terrified and traumatized because like we said, they are no strangers to gun violence or the concept of gun violence or preparing for gun violence. So that sort of trauma they're already carrying, carrying around.
And it's in a moment. It sounded like it escalated very quickly. Like it wasn't slowly over time, like maybe just a handful of minutes. If it was all moving very swiftly, very quickly, that's a lot of people, a lot of chaos in just a few minutes. I feel for the people who have to dig through this investigation because I imagine it's very difficult to find clear answers. I do hope that the police are proactive and not just waiting for people to come forward.
Hopefully they have a few witnesses and you know, you get the names of the people that they know were there. You get the people talk to those people and, you know, go on and on until you can kind of build a tree of everybody who was there. So I'm hoping that, you know, investigators are diligent and doing that and not just waiting for somebody to come forward. Yeah, I mean, this didn't happen that long ago.
Something that actually crossed my mind was I have a few coworkers that would fit the same age as what the party goers at the time would be now. And sometimes when I talk to my coworkers, some of a lot of the memories that they speak about will be from high school, which is interesting to me. Also college or, you know, whatever they did after high school, if it wasn't college, you know, those those memories aren't that long ago. And something like that.
I think if you were a close witness to it, it would be something that stuck around in your head. And I would hope that those people, if they have those memories, they they do the right things with them. I I'm trying to make space for the fact that maybe they're afraid for whatever reason. And I, I can understand and make space for that as like, this is a space that I've never been in, you know, something I've never had to think about.
So I'm hoping that there were more people around in that moment who remember. I'm really hopeful in this case as well that, you know, as the years go on and just situations change, people move, you know, people get married, they have babies, like perspectives change that somebody has a change of heart and comes forward or wants to tell their story of what they know to try to help give this family justice.
I really think that we could see that in this case and see somebody coming forward and kind of being like a hero like Julian was and bringing this case home and getting justice for his family. Yeah, you said a thousand people showed up for that vigil and that March, thinking about 90 people in a thousand. I bet some of them were there, you know, like in numbers, it just seems statistically possible or almost inevitable that someone will say something in this case.
Yeah, the March was really breathtaking to see. There's a couple of photos of it, which we'll put on our Instagram where you just see a huge line of people. Like it extends out of the photo in the background and they all have the Captain American shirts on or, you know, Captain America sweatshirts and like headbands and all sorts of things. Like everyone really showed up for him and, you know, wanted to be there in numbers, in mass, because he had such a big impact.
It makes sense that this March would have would draw so many people like they had to be there for him too. Again, if you know anything about the murder of Julian Quintero in January of 2017, please call the Monterey County Sheriff's Office at 888-833-4847. And like every week and like I've mentioned, we'll have photos of Julian and the March that was held in his honor up on our Instagram, so you can follow us there at Colden Missing and you can keep up with all of our cases.
We post lots of stories about active cases, so follow us there if you're interested in true crime the way that we are. We also deeply appreciate every review that we're given. If you take the time to write us an Apple podcast or one on our website www.coldenmissing.com, we appreciate it so much. It really helps other people kind of give us a chance and listen and, you know, that gets people's stories out here and these cases are so important. But that is all that I have.
Thank you so much for listening to Colden Missing. I'm your host, Dali. And I'm your co-host, Eli. Have a good week and stay safe, y'all. Stay safe, y'all.