Episode 502 - Grocery Store Ambush

You're listening to kf I AM sixty on demand, k FI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. On any given day in southern California, hundreds of investigators are working more than ten thousand unsolved cases. That's thousands of friends and families who have lost loved ones, thousands of people who got away with a crime, and thousands of murderers who still walk the streets. Killers who may be your neighbor, go to your church, or could be dating

a close friend. For the next two hours, will highlight cases that have gone cold, baffled investigators, or just needs that one witness to speak up. This is unsolved with Gregory, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Cold case number zero zero six DASH zero seven four three four DASH one four three two zero

one one the murder of sixty year old security guard through Toso Anguiano. Cold Case Detective Sean McCarthy gave us a call and said he wanted our help to highlight a horrific case from La puenteccarthy, who's a friend of the show, says he knows someone is still carrying the burden and guilt about the brutal stabbing death of Anguiano. So we headed down to Homicide Gero in Monterey Park where Detective McCarthy debriefs us on the case of the grocery store ambush. This murder

occurred at a Northcate Gonzalez supermarket. It's not one of the bigger chains, but there's numerous Gonzalez markets and in the creator Los Angeles area. This one happened to be in La Pointe on Hacienda Boulevard. And I was a part of this case. I wasn't the lead investigator. I happened to be the on the assist team, and we processed the crime scene and did whatever the

lead team wanted us to do. But basically we got called out. Got the call about shortly after ten o'clock in the in the evening to respond. A security guard at the location had been murdered and it was unknown who the suspects were. It was unknown exactly when the crime occurred, but as investigation went on and piecing it together was surveillance video, we are able to make determinations on suspects, at least general information on the suspects, the time of

occurrence. Motive is a big question mark. There's some some people might say, as as I go on with this, that the motive is obvious. I don't. I don't think it's as obvious is many might think. But I think it's it's the most logical motive. But basically, what occurred after we I say we the lete two investigators in me and my partner is somewhere around nine o'clock two males energy supermarket. Supermarket was still open. The supermark

closed around eleven o'clock. I believe it closed. There were still people in the in the market, but not a lot of people because it was getting later. These two males, initially it didn't he would never guess that they were the suspect. They just appeared based on dress, to be patrons of the market, and they began milling around the store. No shopping carts, just young male Hispanics, it appears, and they start milling around the store.

A short time later, approximately ten ten after nine, two additional males walk in. And if I didn't mention it about the first two males, they didn't have specific dress that jumped out of but one of them was were in red and the other one was wearing what appeared to be a tan hoodie. The second two that came in four or five minutes later weren't all black, and they were wearing white baseball hats. At the time, you would

never know that they were related. In fact, other than the close proximity of the first two that came in, you wouldn't really know if they were together until later on. But they all start milling around the store and at some point they end up meeting up together. And the reason we know that is is surveillance video inside the store that was obtained showed them together, all four of them together what appeared to be the same four people. We believe

that these there was a certain level of planning to this. They are seen in near the back of the store. Initially there they made no attempts to disguise themselves, but they were clearly together, and that becomes clear probably about fifteen minutes after they're all in the store. During that time, one of the managers of the store, there's an armed security guard in there. His name was Frutoso Anguiano. He's a sixty year old male worked two jobs.

Day job as a machinist, night job as a security guard in the in the market, and he was asked by a manager to take some fish that was left out to take it back to a rear cooler. Now, and this is all just theory and speculation, but the belief is is these guys made their way to suspects, made the way to the back of the market.

They then intended to conceal themselves for a period of time, logically until the store closed and most of the employees were gone, or maybe conceal themselves until everyone was gone, and then do whatever they were going to do. The major portion of the money was at the front of the store, but keep in mind when they entered the store there was still business as usual. So they make the way to the rear of the store. There's a catwalk,

there's a storage room, there's a break room upstairs. It's on the second floor. And we believed the intent was to conceal themselves until there was a point where it was more manageable to either overtake employees or waited out until

employees were all gone. As I said, a manager had asked the security guard to take some meat that was fish that was left out, take it to a rear cooler, and we believe in the process of doing that he stumbles onto the suspects, They overtake him, They handcuffed him with his own

handcuffs, They take his service weapon, and then something happens. Whether it was intended, whether there was something that that sparked it, but one of them either finds a knife and for whatever reason stabs as the security guard who apparently was incapacitated. He was no threat to him at the point. Once they handcuffed him and stabbed him fifty two times I believe fifty fifty two times. Autopsy determined it was overkilled. There's no doubt about that he was.

He was handcuffed. As I said, he didn't appear to be a threat to anybody at that point. And okay, let's pause there because I'm gonna take a break. When we come back, he just you've just given us an awful lot here. So we're talking with Sean McCarthy, a detective with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Departments Cold Case Unit, and he's just laid out a case from twenty oh six, a very disturbing one, indeed, and we'll talk more about it, but first this is unsolved with Steve Gregory on

kf I AM six forty. You're listening to kf I AM six forty on demand, kf I AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. I'm Steve Gregory and this is Unsolved. Welcome back with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Homicide Bureau in Monterey Park. And we're sitting in a conference room inside talking with Detective Sean McCarthy, a member of the department's cold case unit. He's a friend of the show. He's presented us a case. Now.

Going back to May fourth of twenty oh six, around ten o'clock in the evening, four Hispanic men entered the north Gate Gonzales Supermarket on Hussieno Boulevard in La Plente, and somehow along the way they decided to conceal themselves in the rear of this grocery store, this Hispanic market, and they seemed a detective, if I heard you correctly, They seemed surprised by a security guard that came to the rear of the store that was delivering some fish to a cooler,

and they attacked him after they handcuffed him with his own handcuffs and stabbed him fifty two times. Before the break, you kind of stopped right there. You kind of left us on a cliffhanger at fifty two times. You know, you said they took his service weapon also, so he was licensed to carry a side on the security guard. In your experience, in your multiple years of experience, what's unusual about the way that went down. They took his gun, they handcuff him, but then stab him fifty two times.

What do you make of that? Okay, what I personally make of it, And a lot of people are going to listen to the show that might dispute this. But I believe after they took his gun, I don't know. I don't know that the intent was to kill him. Could have been, but I'm I'm not leaning in that direction. Is is something happened between the time they overtook him, incapacitated him by by handcuffing him, and

then something happened in the time between being handcuffed and being stabbed. Now, I think an amateur detective would would would agree with this, is that they didn't use a service weapon to kill him because it would have drawn attention to him. There's still people in the store. That's going to alert everybody, So they dealt with him in a way that was less, was quiet. It was quieter. Now he could have screamed out. I mean he may

have. It was in the upstairs. Apparently he was stabbed in the break room and then he was dragged out of the breakroom. And the unfortunate thing about the the breakroom was there was no surveillance in the breakroom. I don't know that if that would have changed anything as far as solom in the case there was surveillance video. It may have given you an idea of motive. Could have I mean motive for the actual murder, not could for them,

could absolutely could. And I think that's that's that's the one thing almost for sure that we could have got out of that. Did he do something? Did he fight that he? Did he kick one of him? Did he what did he do to cause them? Some would argue, and trust me, this was thought about fifty two times. Very personal, that's right now, That's where I was headed next. Yeah, but personal murders, you don't normally bring three other guys with you. You don't normally go into a

public place to take care of a personal beef with somebody. The odds of you getting identified caught or identified skyrocket, it would have been if it was a personal If it was a personal attack, and that was the motive, why not just wait for the security guard to get off, follow him home, follow him wherever, and then kill him kill right? And yeah, But the other thing that keeps coming to my mind is high on drugs. That's certainly a possibility. What was was one or more of these guys,

uh, you know, whacked out on something. I don't know the answer to that based on their their actions in the in the in the surveillance video doesn't appear or it's not obvious that they were whacked on on drugs or alcohol. But it's still a possibility. And there's always that he did something to provoke one of them, trying to say, I mean, if somebody overtakes me, I'm a security guard and overtakes me a handcuffed for me, Well,

what's the next logical thing you're worried about. I ain't gonna I'm not going home tonight, you know. So so fight or flighte fight or flight? And my guess is it's possible that he decided I just gotta fight however I can, because if I if I let this go on worst case scenarios, they're going to kill me anyways, in your based on your experience,

again, does this the way this went down? You have already said in the first segment that you felt this was a bit orchestrated and that it was planned, and that they kind of had some sort of you know, they

kind of mapped it out, if you will. But the type and brand of attack, stabbing an individual fifty two times like that after they're handcuffed, does that give you the sense that these people are amatures or experts or not experts, but they've done this before, they are comfortable doing this or did or is this the actions of an amateur? I would say, and I know a lot more about the case that I can't reveal. The discourse was this was amateurish in a lot of ways and planned out in some ways.

That's Does that make sense? Yeah? Yeah, um, And as always, you'll tell me off air what you want to do what you can't tell me on air. But what I can tell is the worst part of the show, by the way, because I can't share everything with everybody, but that's the that's the nature of the beast here. The one thing that I can tell you that that evidence indicates is is that there was a level of

planning to this. They went into this store likely to burglarize or rob There's also evidence to indicate that this was done by local suspects what I mean by local in the general surrounding area of the market. There's evidence that they fled, and when they fled, they went over back wall into an apartment complex. Now does that mean somebody wasn't waiting on the other side of the department complex and they drove to Pasadena where they lived. Yeah, that's possible.

But the evidence indicates and based on some witnesses testimony, they were local. Okay, and I'm gonna hold you to that and ask you about that. But first we need to take a break. This is unsolved with Steve Gregory. I KF I AM sixty. You're listening to KF I AM sixty on demand can if I am six forty heard everywhere live on the iHeartRadio app. I'm Steve Gregory and this is unsolved. If you're listening on the app, you can send us a tip about a case, a story, idea,

or a comment about the show. Just tap the red microphone on the app and record your message. Welcome back. We're at the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Homicide Bureau. Were inside speaking with Detective Sean McCarthy. He's a member

of the cold case unit. He's been talking about a case going back to May fourth, twenty six, seventeen years ago, when a security guard was overrun, overtaken by four Latino men in the North Gate at the Northgate Gonzalez Supermarket in La Puente, California. And somewhere in the midst of all of this, the security guard was stabbed fifty two times and died on the scene. Before the break, detective, you had always already walked through what had

happened. But now you're suggesting that all four of these men are locals. And I don't know what kind of a radius do you consider local or within the surrounding neighborhood, surrounding neighborhood, Okay, So and keep in mind, and I don't have to tell anybody who's familiar the Los Angeles area it's a heavy, heavily populated gang area or on this market, okay, But lat Point has a lot of gangs, So I don't I'm not going to jump to the conclusion that this was gang members. But it's a it's a it's

it's possible. Well, I want to go back and discover something because you said it at the very beginning of the show, something that caught my attention I wanted to talk to about. So I'm going to ask that in a minute. But to finish what I was asking you before, you said that based on evidence, you believe that these guys were locals, and um and witness statements, so you did have witnesses. Witness is after the fact,

after the fact, So there actually is a witness. And I know I've showed I've already showed you this, but that is an employee that one of the suspects is pointing away. So what we're looking at right now for people to know is, um, I'm looking at a photo sheet that has four frames on it that we're extracted from surveillance video on May fourth, twenty or six, and it looks like one of this is one of these is in the nine o'clock hour, and one of these is in the ten o'clock hour.

And but yeah, you're showing me we're at least one man in a tan hoodie with a white hat on is pointing a gun at an employee. I assume that's an employee at the foot of the stairs. And we've got others showing these suspects walking around in the supermarket, just kind of wandering around. And there's even one shot here where the man, based on what I can see on this shot here, he looks like a younger man looking straight up at the camera, straight up at them, and it's grainy. You

know, the technology back in No. Six wasn't nearly as good with the high death as it is today. So I mean, we're going to post those pictures on the website. I hope we'll get to if we get permission to do so, we'll certainly let everyone know. So what is you talked about a witness after the fact? So was the stort technically still open after the murder happened? No. Once, the suspects, as they were pointing out this one surveillance floor, they were coming down the stairs, and in

the earlier surveillance they made no attempt to conceal their identities. They weren't massed up. But as they're coming down the stairs you can see in the video they're now massed up. So what we believe happened was and this is a possibility, and I'm glad you brought it up because I wanted to touch on this. You talked about motive. Did they come in there specifically to kill this security guard. I do not believe that, but I believe here's a

distinct possibility. Personal opinion is, as the security guard was bringing the fish back to the back of the store to the cooler, they had concealed themselves. They weren't expecting anybody, they hadn't massed up yet. He surprises them, potentially recognizes one of them. They overtake him, and now we have to kill this guy. He knows who we are. I believe that's a distinct possibility because they didn't get massed up until after they kill. Well.

See, as soon as you pointed that out, I was thinking to myself that maybe this is part of the calculated move where they wanted to go in and blame, then look normal, and then disappear. I mean, if they had these masks or these face coverings to put on, do you think they had already planned to do that, that that was part of the play.

That's that's that's another thing I wanted to get to is they came in the store to look like customer, but based on their actions making their way to the back of the store, knowing that there was a catwalk upstairs, knowing that there was a storage room, knowing that there was a break room, I believe that's that at least raises its possibility that they were familiar with the location. They were familiar with all aspects of the location, and at

least one of them was potentially an employee or a former employee. So then why why go completely maskless out in the open and why didn't why wasn't there any interaction with other employees? I think there. I think their intention was is they walked in even if somebody recognize them, they're just the customer. Okay, they're a customer. They get to the back, they know where

to conceal themselves. Everything goes to plan, the store closes, all the employee lead, all the employees leave now, or if the plan was robbery and wait until the store closes, and we only got to do a deal with the few employees, then we mask up, and then we deal with the employees that are still there. Oh so it was a contingency. Yeah, it was like a Plan B, Plan B. It could have been Plan A all along. They come in, they blend in, even if

they're recognized, they're just in their shopping. They make it to the rear of the store. They conceal themselves. Everything goes to plan right now, the store closes, most of the employers are gone. All I got to do deal with as a manager or two. Maybe the security guard, but maybe he's already sent sent home. Right now, you mask up. Now you in front the manager. They don't know who you are because you're massed up. You rob him, you get out of there. Everything goes as

plan okay. So but but the security guard screws it up for lack of a better term, And it's possible they now, but why kill him if they don't know know, why kill him? That's why I believe we believe it's it's likely it's somebody familiar with the store, possibly a former employee or and they write the security guard they hadn't massed up yet. The security guard

stumbles onto him, they overtake him. We got to kill him now because if we if we allow him to live, he's gonna he's he knows who we are, or he knows who at least one of us are, so they kill him. We're talking with Detective Sean McCarthy with the La County Sheriff's Departments Homicide Bureau um Cold Case Unit, and I feel like I'm right in the middle now of a real time Who've done it? So when we come back, we'll talk more about a case from twenty or six and La Puente.

But first, this is Unsolved with Steve Gregory on kf I AM six forty. You're listening to kf I AM sixty on demand kf I AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. I'm Steve Gregory. This is unsolved. We are at the La County Sheriff's Department's Homicide Bureau in Monterey Park.

We've been speaking with Detective Sean McCarthy, a member of the cold case Unit, and he has presented us a case from May fourth, twenty zero six, seventeen years ago at the North Gate Gonzales Supermarket at eight thirty one Hussy

Into Boulevard in La Puente, California. And before the break, Detective McCarthy and I were sort of, I guess, for lack of a better word coming up with our own theories of how this might have gone down, because I've been I'm still looking at and holding in my hands this photo sheet of four frames from surveillance video that shows what McCarthy has described as the four suspects before they put on face coverings and then after they put on face coverings,

which I had never really noticed until you pointed it out, and mostly because that's pretty grainy and fudgy. But you guys have better technology and you've seen the video, so you can figure that out, I'm sure. But before the break, you were sort of breaking down the fact that this security guard we're talking about as a sixty five year old man who was handcuffed with his own handcuffs, his service weapon was taken from him, and then he was

stabbed fifty two times. Detective you said that you one of your working theories is that this security guard may have recognized one or more of the four men, right. I believe that's distinct possible, And if that's why they realized they had to kill it, it would it appeared that only one individual may have stabbed demand or do you think they all had a hand in it?

I believe it's one one of them, I also believe, and then getting into the amateur aspect that one of you commented on one of the surveillance pictures is one of the suspects prior or certainly after he made his way to the back of the story actually looked up at the surveillance video. That's very amateur.

And so so somebody led this crew, somebody who was the alpha dog, right, And my guess is he made the decision we got to kill this guy now, right or if he reckoned, if the security guard record, Let's say a former employee was a bit player in this, he was involved in it, but he was a bit player in it, and he recognized that guy the alpha dog is still going to be likely the person who decides we got to get rid of it, because he is going to identify

you. You're a weak link, and you're gonna potentially tell him that I was with you and I was the leader of the pack, and he made the decision to kill him something. And we were talking about in the last segment, and I said, I wanted to go back to ask you about um. At the very beginning, you were you were giving a description of these guys, and you had mentioned that La Punte being a very active gang area. Did anything on them give you an indication of gang affiliation? No?

No, in my opinion looking at the surveillance video. But keep in mind, I was the assist team. Our only role in this was the process, the crime scene assist the lead team that night in the investigation, and once that night was over with and we all went home. They picked it up after that and we went on with our cases, and we had minimal role in roll in it. Aftercat, I'm basing it on. I picked this case up at the request of one of the lead I always when

he retired, and now it's my case, mine and Tomlins. When did you get this case? Twenty twenty okay, so about three years ago. Yeah, but but just to be clear, see my review that surveillance video, and that's that's my only Do you have the video still? Yeah? Okay. I look at those photos and if they are gang members, they didn't dress a gang members and that would have been a smart thing likely to

do. Um. So, based on just the evidence right in surveillance video, I would say those guys aren't gang members based on what I see in the video. Okay, doesn't mean they're not gang members or led by a gang member. But some things that I can reveal about the investigation, there was multiple tips that came in on this case, and several of those tips led to specific gang members from the area, named gang members from the area,

and we're still investigating some of those leads. That's where that's where the gang thing comes in, is is tips from the public. That surveillance video, parts of it was aired back in two thousand and six. There was people who called in says that looks like so and so, that looks like so and so, so we proceed to investigate them. Some of the leads have have led to other states where potential suspects based on evidence, may have

fled to shortly after to the murder. But having grainny's surveillance videos, the only witness being dead the security guard, and the only other obvious witness the employee who got the gun pointed at her. They were massed up, so that witness was no good in helping identify these people. The other and this is what's going to make or break this case. In my opinion, there was DNA located inside the store, and without getting into detail, there's no

doubt about it. It's the DNA of one of the fourth suspects. Okay, sure, I go too far down this path. I gotta go back and ask you a couple questions. So this one photo that we've described earlier shows one of the men in the white hat and the tan hoodie winning what you believe is the security guard's weapon at another employee. Is that a female? By the way, who's that female employ apparently? Uh, you know, I have to go back into the case file. I believe it's a

female. Why was she spared? Well, I think they were masked up. Okay, so you don't think so. I think that their attitude is and I hate that. I hate to to throw up my opinions. It's a lot harder. And this is my opinion, and you may scoff at it, and the listeners may laugh at this. It's a lot harder to kill a female employee, an innocent female employ than it is an armed security guard. And with that, we're going to take another break. This is

unsolved with Steve Gregory on kf I AM six forty. You're listening to kf I AM sixty on demand. Kf I AM six forty heard Everywhere live on the iHeartRadio app. I'm Steve Gregory and this is Unsolved. If you're listening on the app, you can send us a tip about a case, a story idea, or a comment about the show. Just tap the red microphone

on the app and record your message. We're at the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Homicide Bureau in Monterey Park, inside of the one of the main conference rooms, speaking with Detective Sean McCarthy about a case going back to May fourth, twenty six, around ten o'clock in the evening, when four Hispanic men went into the Northgate Gonzales supermarket on Hussey and the Boulevard in La Puente and

initially began acting at customers walking around. Surveillance video to shows them wandering around, up and down the aisles, and then at some point they make their way to the back of the store, where detective McCarthy believes they were laying in wait, perhaps to wait until the store closed or until they were fewer employees. But detective McCarthy believes that at some point the security guard goes back, surprises him, and for whatever reason, they stab him fifty two times.

The security guard and kills him, takes the service weapon, handcuffs him. And in the last hour we talked about a lot of different theories, and you're operating on the you've got this case about three years ago, but you're operating on the theory that this might have been somebody or these individuals may have known the security guard, or the security guard may have known them at least recognized him. It might have been a former employee. And then we

were talking about this employee that was confronted after they masked up. So as soon as and they went into the store to meet, to meander around, their faces were completely exposed. But after they stabbed this man fifty two times, they decided to put on face coverings, come down these stairs because it happened up in a break room, and then confront this employee, point a gun at her. And you said that she was not able to give you

much information. Is she Have you been in touch with her since you took on the case? No, I haven't you do? Planet? Is that something you plant a new point? But we're more focused on a couple of pretty decent suspects that we could absolutely make on DNA because the DNA left at the scene. Based on surveillance video, there's no doubt that that DNA where

it was taken from was touched by the one of these suspects. Yeah, because the other thing when you talk about face coverings, I see no gloves in their initial entry, but then I see do I see gloves, Yes, on this guy and the rail down about it. So then they put up gloves and put on them. I believe one steak. I believe they were going to use these masks at some point, regardless if the security guard would have surprised them and then they had had to kill them. I believe

they were going to use them as part of the plan. But the plan got screwed up by the guard. And then once they kill them, they were like, we need to put these masks on now, we need to get the hell out of here, and we need to make sure that we just committed a murder that we're not going to be identified. So they mask up, they go down the stairs. Another employee is standing there, the one suspects points a gun adder and then they get out of there. That

was the that that changed the plan. Once they kill them, it's like, now, whatever our motive was, whether robbery, burglary or whatever. Now our motive is is to get the hell out of here. So they

didn't get away with any money or anything. No, no, they And then when you see that the confrontation between the suspects and the employee, that this female employee, how much time I mean, how long was the confrontation If you look on the surveillance video the one suspects looked up at the camera at twenty one, eighteen hours, nine eighteen hours, they come down the stairs, massed up and point the gun at the employee at twenty two,

twenty four hours, so six minutes later, and in that six minute period they killed the security guard, mask up, come down the stairs with in my opinion, the attempt just to get out of there now, and that all happened in a six minute area and glove up too, glove up to now the money presumably this was supposed to be a robbery or burglary. You said the money was at the front. Was it in a sane yeah,

I believe so. I reviewed that. You know, we go long period of time because we have so many on some cases and then we've discussed this on another show. We may go six months, maybe sometimes a year because other cases come together and we have to focus on that. And then when we get back to a case, a lot of a lot of things you lose because you haven't looked at the case in six months to a year,

so you have to refresh yourself. And last night, because I knew what I was going to be doing this show, I tried to cram like for a test. And I remember that the managers saying that the vast portion of any money was at the front of the store, So we believe they made their way to the back. They were familiar with it. They went to

hide. They were going to wait until things calmed down, the store closed, they were going to mask up. They were going to go up and deal with any employees, rob him for whatever money they could get out of him, go out and be successful in their little plan. But things went awry with the security guard. And one other thing, Steve, because I know you're a listeners, somebody's going to say, well, how do you

know that they didn't handcuff him after they killed them. It's possible that they that they stumble onto him, that the security guard stumbles onto him, he's armed. Okay, we got to deal with him. Really quick here. They could they have brought the knife in with him. They could have, but my guests is more likely they found a knife there in the break room. No surveillance video. They have to deal with him because he's armed, because if he can get to his gun and then they handcuff him after it,

do I think that's exactly what happened. No, but I have to consider the possibility that that happened. The more likely scenario is they overtake him, they handcuff him. Something happens either either he recognizes one of them and they now feel like they have to kill him. But it's not all of

the realm of possibility that they kill them first and then handcuffs him. You know, it's very common when officers get involved into a shooting, the first thing they do once the shooting stops and the suspect is down, is they handcuff him. I know that a paul's the public, but that's a that's an officer's safety thing they have to take into consideration. Could that have happened here where they like killed him, needed they handcuff him just in case he

I mean, after fifty two times, I think that's overkilled. I don't think that's the likely scenario, but I have to consider the possibility. When we come back, we'll talk more with Detective h McCarthy about this horrific murder in twenty six inside of a supermarket. Butt First, this is Unsolved with Steve Gregory on camp I AM six forty. You're listening to kf I AM six forty on demand kf I AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.

I'm Steve Gregory and this is Unsolved. We are inside of the La County Sheriffs Department's Homicide Bureau talking with cold case Detective Sean McCarthy about a case from twenty oh six that happened in La Plente inside of a supermarket, the Northgate Gonzales Supermarket on Hasciana Boulevard, in which a sixty five year old security guard was killed stabbed fifty two times by at least one of these four individuals. We've been talking about a lot of different angles to this case. Detective.

One of the things I wanted to ask you you mentioned in the last segment about DNA and if I heard you correctly, and again we're going back. We're referring to this photo sheet that we have that has four frames extracted from this surveillance video camera. Were you able to look at the places that these individuals touched or brushed up against and did that help lead you to swabbing for DNA? And that's in that location led the original iOS? Yes,

right, that's exactly what happened. Okay, they were they were meticulously watching the surveillance video and one of the suspects did something with which they collected later. And there was no doubt that if there was any DAN that item, that it was going to be the suspects DNA now and the actions of the suspect led them to collect this side how soon after the murder and the collection

of the DNA, I mean how much time went by between. It was moments late, moments like okay, so they were able to see this videotape pretty quickly, quickly, Yeah, okay, because this is multiple camera angles, right, yeah, yeah, these are obviously multiple camera angles. So now looking at because you also provided some of the photos from the scene. These these are actual photos that I'm looking at of the security guard and in

the state he was left after he was stabbed fifty two times. I'm looking at one of the shots here that shows knife wounds based on that, do you have any idea or were you told by the corner or the medical examin of what kind of knife that was. I was not the lead IO, so I wasn't at that's okay, But I didn't know if this is information you had by now or okay, so was there? So I assume no

knife was recovered from the scene. But since the murder took place in a break room, one of your assertions is that they could have used a knife that was in the breakroom. Possible. And with a with a grocery store in the back that does food prep and stuff, it was probably access to some sort of er um. So when you collected the DNA, and I already know you're not going to be able to tell me a lot about it, But do you think, I mean, did you get an actual DNA

sample? I mean, were you able to get a profile file that was was obtained? It was entered into codis and and I think your listeners have a basic knowledge of it. It's a database database offenders when they're arrested, there's certain crimes that they have to give a reference sample at DNA reference sample. The series of the crime will determine that that is entered into a database.

So if they've committed other crimes and their DNA was left there, when you upload that profile into codas, they will, they will get a hit on the sus in this case, and once again this lends credence to the amateur aspect of this, at least some of the suspects. Is when they uploaded this in the CODIS, there was no hit. So what that tells you is that that this particular offender who left this DNA had not been arrested

and forced to give up DNA. He hadn't been arrested for a certain crime, for certain for a certain crime, or if he was a juvenile as juvenile DNA and a CODIS even if they commit murder, that's a good question. Okay, I would have to research that. We'll put that down for homework for next time. Yeah. But um, yeah, so then so you didn't get a hit, which means that that this that this individual was not arrested for certain crimes. Let me ask you this, Um, can

you point out which individual's DNA you got? Yeah? You can, yes, point pointed out to me. We won't tell anybody. Okay, again, the amateur aspect of this looking up at the camera, DNA not in Koda's possibility that he's the juvenile, all these things. Looking at these photos again now I'm looking back at the crime scene photos. This is something I don't think we talked about. Was the security guard's body dragged from one location

to another after he was killed. Apparently not very far, but apparently. I mean there's literally as a trail of smear blood. Yeah, there's no doubt about from one room out into a hallway. Do you any idea? Why don't just by looking? I don't. I can speculate, and I've done a whole lot of that in this hour. I'll tell you something. It's very disturbing, more than anything because this was presumably of just an innocent man doing his job. But that brings me to the next question. What

do we know about the security guard? I mean, you know, if you believe that the security guard may have recognized one or more of these individuals, what do we know about this guy? What was his connection? Did he live in the neighborhood? I mean, what do we know about the man? His name was Frutoso Anguiano. He was sixty years old or approaching sixty. He was a family man. He had two jobs. I believe he worked as a machinist during the day and he worked as a security guard

at the market at night. In that area and in a lot of high crime areas, and I don't want to I don't want to give you the impression that this is the highest crime area, but there is a lot of gang activity in this area. You got gang members who frequent the market. There's always potential for confrontation for whatever reason, and it's a securities job to deal with with any disruptions in the store. It's possible, and we have to look at us, although it's not my number one theory is he had

a confrontation with somebody and they came back to settle the score. But for obvious reasons, I think that's unlikely. In a very public place, why not just wait for him to get off work, follow him home or wherever and deal with the men. Why in a very public market, even though it was later in the evening, why would you take that chance? And if it was a personal thing, most personal killings are done by one person. They don't bring three guys along with them. Because it's a personal thing.

The other three guys likely unless they were with him that day, had no beef with this guy, and no no, I just I hate to interrupt your father, but we do have to take a break. We'll come back with more of Sean McCarthy, but first, this is unsolved with Steve Gregory. I can't find AM six forty. You're listening to kf I AM six forty on demand kf I AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.

I'm Steve Gregory, and this is unsolved. Or at the Los Angeles County Chef's Departments Sumas Side Bureau in a conference room, we're talking with cold case Detective Sean McCarthy about a murder going back to May fourth, twenty six in which is sixty year old security guard stabbed fifty two times by at least one of four Hispanic men that went into the Northgate Gonsala Supermarket on Hussey and the Boulevard and the plent thing before the break and I interrupted you before the

break. We were up against it, and you were talking about the difference between this being a random act and a personal act and a targeted attack, a targeted murder, and you've laid out, you know, pretty decent reasons based on your many years experience that if this were a personal attack, why not wait till the security guard gets off duty? Why not stockument another way? Why choose a public venue in which to do it, Why bring three

of your friends? So I think it's pretty safe to say, according to you, that this was not a personal attack of any kind. That's down the list of theories. But there there was information that was obtained from the original investigators. Frutoso was not the only security guard at the location. There was another security guard. I believe he had left. He had left and

what I mean by left left the employment there. And you know, I'm only guessing here there because of the location, the area, the gang activity there, that there was probably confrontations in there, if not on a daily basis, a weekly basis, And a witness said that there had been a confrontation, not with Frutoso, but with the other security guard, and that was a possible motive that they came back for him and they ended up with the wrong security guard. Like I said, that's way down my list of

possibilities. But you have to take that into concert or maybe it was a message. Could be it's just a sick, twisted message. They're not mess with anybody. Here's here's here's the the conservative goal. Here. We have DNA evidence. We have we are certain it's from one of the suspects who appears to be less sophisticated than maybe some of the other suspects. Right, there's no doubt, trust me, Steve, There's no doubt it's his DNA.

It came off a very personal item. It wasn't like somebody could make the argument that, oh, that could have been touched by multiple people in the DNA profile was from some innocent patron of his actions and the item that had the DNA and it was a very personal item. Well, then is this something this guy left behind? Yes, oh, look, the case is twenty years old. It was. It was a the suspect washed his hands and he used to pay bertel and he tossed it at a guards after

the murder. After the murder. There's no doubt it's his d Jesus. So, so the conservative goal is you find your donor. You got one of your suspects based on his actions in the surveillance video. He was one of the less sophisticated one. I wanted to be one of the less sophisticated ones because he's more likely to squeal Once we get he's more likely to say, I just was along for the ride. You get, you get to the leader, right, you got you got one of your suspects, right,

But it's unlikely he's going to give up the others have. Your role is to get all four. Have you rerun the DNA the last time that was? That's on our to do list because with fingerprint technology, and I've learned this in the last and if you haven't met Dale fall Kinds, he's really great. He's a he's a he's a higher back just like we are.

And he's a outstanding fingerprint guy. Technology is improving literally on a yearly basis, and the same thing with DNA, and and the possibility too well, it's it's improved to the point where it should it should come back as a hit as technology because it's in the it's in the database, it's it's it's already there. So it's already so that it's there. Okay, that's right, So there should so if there was another arrest and this guy had

already been arrest. He may have never been arrested for a crime that forced him to give a DNA reference sample. But in the seventeen years since the murder, you would hope that he went on with his criminal activity. He he progressed in his criminal activity, committed a crime that would force him to give up DNA. But to this point that has not happened. And I can only tell you this. We have one suspect, we have two good

suspects. One we already know it's not his DNA, We've already eliminated him. It doesn't mean he's not involved in the murder because there's three other suspects. The other one has not committed a crime in seventeen years that would force him to give up a DNA sample. So our goal is to get his DNA in another way and match it and then gold go old school. But he's he's currently in another state, and I'm not going to divulge that state,

just like I'm not going to divulge his identity for obvious reasons. That's the optimistic lead that we have. But but well, you already but you have an idea on this guy, then oh yeah, if you know who you're looking for now, how did you get the idea from a tip? From a tip? It was it a tip from back then or a current or a recent tip. It was a tip that came in within a year or two of the murder. Did you consider it credible or was it just

one of many hit tips you got? The more credible tip was addressed that person was eliminated through DNA. They obtained his DNA prior to me taking the case. They were still active. He also had left to state, but it was not his DNA on that paper towel. So now we move on to the next guy. Okay, we're gonna pause and we're gonna we're gonna take our final break of the night. When we come back, we're gonna wrap this thing up because I got some more questions. But first, this

is Unsolved with Steve Gregory on kf I AM six forty. You're listening to kf I AM sixty on demand, kf I AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. I'm Steve Gregory, and this is Unsolved. Welcome back to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Uma Side Bureau. We're talking with Detective Sean McCarthy about a murder case from May fourth, twenty six at the North

Gate Gonzales supermarket on Hacienda Boulevard Puente. And this is a horrific crime in which a security guard, a sixty year old man, was stabbed fifty two times by at least one of these four Hispanic men. Presumably robbery slash burglary was the motive, but until they actually get someone to tell them what happened, that's kind of the working theory right now. Before the break, Detective, we were kind of digging deep a little bit on the DNA aspect of

all of this. You said that you have identified at least one person that you want to get a DNA sample from. And that person you said, washed their hands after the murder and a sink and you were able to extract DNA from the paper towels, right, And now you want to go to another state and try to get DNA from this individual. Is that going to

be a challenger? It sounds easier said than done. Well, the easy way, The easiest way is is hope that you haven't enough probable cause that you can convince a judge in that state that this is the donor of that DNA. I think that would be unlikely in California, but we have fifty states who we generally operate the same way, but slightly is sometimes more significantly different. Can you do that? I mean, if the crime was committed here in California, can you get a judge in another state? Yeah?

What we do is we do not have police power. We have police power in California. So if your subject in a DNA case like this is in California, you go to a California judge, he decides to have probable cause, he signs the court or you bring the guy in, show him the court order, and he's forced to give you his DNA right. If it's in another state, we don't have police powers, so we go to a law enforcement agency. See there, we provide him with the information which we

believe it is probable costs. They put it on an affidavit because they had in whatever state that is, and then they go to a judge in that state, got it, and then so they became your surrogate in another state. Absolutely, okay, that makes sense. And then just for I think more curiosity than anything, could you also do that on the federal level, because you also ask a federal law enforcement agency to act on your behalf like

that, Yeah, you could, but sounds more complicated. This is something I It's just federal law and state law are different and can be significantly different. And when you bring on a federal agency to help you out, there's times when they want more control of the investigation, and maybe you're willing to give them. So we're very cautious about that. When the great thing about federal law enforcement is they'll bend over backwards for you. They're they're extremely professional,

but they're dealing with federal law and we're dealing with local law. And there's a significant difference between the two and perspective and control, and I would need assurances from the federal agency that I would be seeking out from that we were still going to have control over the case, most control. I mean, here's another question that just I just thought about. If I can ensure unless we were seeking federal prosecution, then I'm more willing to relinquish. That

makes sense. That makes sense. So you get a surrogate agency to act on your behalf to file for the affidavit, and then that would compel this individual to force them to give the DNA. Right, where are the laws at with respect to just doing your own surveillance. Oh, that's the hard way, that's the heart, I say, the harder. It's the harder

way. That's what I thought, the old school way. I thought, that's what you're going to do. If you don't have enough probable cause to convince the judge to sign a core order, Now you have to do it. But then you still have police powers in another state, though, Do you have to give another agency the heads up? Yeah? They would, They would assist us. They would do most of the heavy lifting in that. Yeah, because now with familiar DNA and and and just how easy it

is to extract like that and the technologies as you mentioned. But but I was thinking, was almost easier just to surveil the guy and take Yeah, it's as simple as this, even though it's in another state, you get the cooperation on another law on first, an agency. They surveiled the guy, he goes to McDonald's, he tosses a cup eye, They collect it. They they they they preserve it. They turn it over to us.

We fled back to Los Angeles and the AD a test there right and then and then if it matches, then you get the arrest warrant and you're here to go. We go to the district attorney files the case, we get an arrest warrant with extradition's back. That's what you're hoping for, sop for that in this last in this last minute, what would you like from the public, if anything, there's no Look. The one thing, and I keep talking about the amateur aspect of this, and we've talked about this on

another show. It's human nature to want to tell somebody about what you did. And the more amateurist you are, the more likely you are to tell people about what you did. Throw in the potential gang aspect, is you really want to tell people what you did unless you end up committing such a heineous crime that even your peers, well, this was pretty heous. It

is pretty veinous. But there's surveillance video here, and I'm sure I'm going to get the okay from the lead, the original lead to post this somebody. It's grainy, but I think it's good enough where somebody if they saw this, and you and I always say this on your show and other shows, is that old story about if you don't solve the case in the first forty eight hours, the odds go down. I'm affirmed leaver in sometime. Time is your ally. People's lives change, time goes on, they feel

less threatened by about coming forward. They they go on to lead more productive lives and they feel compelled. Now, Hey, I'm a I've changed my life and I've had multiple cases like that where people come forward and they would have never come forward in two thousand and six and told you who the suspect was. Never, never, never because of their lifestyle, their fear. Whatever. Time changes people. We all change over time, sometimes for the

better. Sometimes morally we would and they may be more willing to come forward now. They just needed a platform like you. You have to hear this to see this surveillance video and maybe maybe cough you Tector Sean McCarthy. Always a pleasure, Thank you sir for your time, and that's going to do it. Unsolved with Steve Gregory. The radio show is a production of the KFI News Department for iHeartMedia, Los Angeles and is produced by Steve Gregory and

Jacob Gonzalez. Our field engineer is Tony Sorrentino, and our digital producer is Nate Ward. To hear this episode and others from past seasons, download Unsolved with Steve Gregory on the iHeart Radio app or wherever you listen. Coming up, it's Before the Coast with Clay Row. But first, this is KFI AM six forty time Now for a news update. KFI AM sixty on demand