You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand. KFI AM six forty heard 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 Steve Gregory in this episode, the murder of Jesseavolos, La County Sheriff's Case zero one four eight zero zero two four zero two eight four zero one one, the murder of Eduardo Robliss, La County Sheriff's Case zero one five zero nine three three two zero two eight three zero one one, and the murder of Amanda Nikki Lopez, La County Sheriff Case zero one eight
six one zero six zero two eight two zero one one. In July twenty twenty one, I got a call from my friend in Collegue Oswalde Riz. He's with Univision KMEX channel thirty four here in Los Angeles. He told me about a case he was tipped off on. It was a strange one where three people had been killed over a four year period from twenty fourteen to twenty eighteen. But now detectives with the La County Sheriff's Department figured the murders were
probably done by the same person with an accomplice. So I reached out to Captain Joe Mendoza. He's the head of the department's homicide Bureau, and I asked him if I could get in on the action, meaning I'd like to do some coverage. I want to be in the loop for any developments. Captain Mendoza referred me to Ray Lugo, one of the detectives run in the case. Lugo agreed to meet Aswaldo and I at the scene of one of
the murders near Commerce. Keep in mind these are preliminary interviews, so details may differ from the final outcome, and these are exclusive interviews and have not aired before in their entirety. But I wanted to give you a peek behind the scenes how we actually work to put this store together. You're also going to hear the voice of my friend and colleague, goes Waldo, and the
raw audio, as we call it, will be different volume levels. You'll hear a lot of background noise and some of those We interviewed war masks the whole time. But I wanted to bring you into my world as much as possible. I think it's an interesting world, Okay. I also want to caution you some of the details may be too graphic for some. Detective Ray
Lugo, Elie County Shares homosecond I'll let you start back. On February tenth, twenty fourteen, victim Jesse Avelos received a telephone call at about ten fifty in the evening at night where a friend asked him for a battery jump and that his friend said that he was near the His car was stuck near the
intersection of Telegraph Road and Arizona Avenue at about on the following morning. On February the eleventh, twenty fourteen, at approximately zero three hundred hours, east, La Share Station received a nine one one call that they had found a individual sitting in a blue suv A parked on the wrong side of the street
with its hood up. When deputies arrived and detectives arrived, they found the victim, Jesse Avolos, still sitting in his driver's seat with his seat belt on and the hood of his car, the hood of his truck, blue truck. So this is well, it's kind of a Telegraph road right across the street from the Santa Ana Freeway, the five Freeway, and this is
a mix of residential and industrial. So if you're parked on Telegraph Road, that's all commercial industrial area and once you go north, for instance here on Federally, this is a residential area. So when did you know that his murder was tied to the others we're talking about. We found out several months ago that the murders were related and that we tied them up by ballistic evidence. And what was his particular role, I mean, what was the motive
behind his particular death? At this time, we don't know. Was there any video or any surveillance video that helps you at all in this particular crime. We don't want to say at this time. Okay, So, but you are convinced that this death is tied to the others involved in the same suspect. Yes, both suspects are involved with all three murders. At this point, Avolos's sister, Maria arrives and spoke to us briefly about what it's been like for her and her family. We miss him. We miss him
so much, his kids miss him. I can't even explain to you the pain that this still causes my mother and my father. We've never had justice served, and we feel that everybody deserves that. You know, at least we know that it's not going to bring him back, but at least we'll get some closure. Little did Maria know she actually drove by the scene of her brother's death just hours after it happened. I actually passed by the street on telegraph going to my job, and I saw the tape, but I
never realized there was my brother. I arrived to work, and about two or three hours later, my eldest daughter called me. She was at that point at that time, staying with my mom, and so the detectives went to my mother's house and let her know that my brother was found and he was assassinated, and that she called me at work and I was stated, I thought it was a bad dream and I wish that that something had went
wrong, that perhaps it would be a different person. She said she'd prayed every night to give not only her brother some peace, but also her parents. Who said goodbye to Maria was turn her family well, and as she leaves, Detective Logo walks back over. You wanted to tell us about the second murder which happened very close by. On July six, two thousand fifteen, victim Eddie Roebliss was near the intersection of Eagle Street and Humphreys Avenue in
East la when he was involved in a fight with another individual. The individual. After the fight, the individual jumps over the wrought iron fence and walks
over to victim Eddie Robleiss's GMC SUV and punctures the tires. The suspect and the other Both suspects left the location, returned approximately five minutes later and shot the victim, Mattie Roeblist, numerous times in the upper tursul and after after shooting the victim, the suspect entered a green light green vehicle and the suspect vehicle was last scene driving eastbound on Eagle Street and out of Veal When we come back. We'll head over to the East LA Courthouse. It's the scene
of the third murder. But first, this is KFI AM six forty. You're listening to KFI A M six forty on demand KFI AM six forty heard everywhere live on the iHeartRadio app. Welcome back to Unsolved. I'm Steve Gregory. Before the break, we reviewed two of three murders which happened from twenty fourteen to twenty eighteen in the area of East LA. We've been talking with Detective Ray Lugo from the La County Shriff's Homicide Bureau. Now he's going to
give us a rundown of the third murders. Lugo met me and fellow reporter as Walde Buries at the East LA Courthouse. Deputies from East LA Share Station received a phone call around zero two forty hours in the morning of a person that had been shot near the offices of Supervisor Hilda Slise. Deputies responded and found the victim in a yellow tent, shot in the upper torso right around
this area, right underneath this canopy. We have information that the suspects drove up eastpaun on Civic Center Drive, just north of Us just north of the east ly A courthouse the right from passenger excited. He was wearing a ski mask, a dark or black colored ski mask and dark clothing. The suspect walked in a southerly direction, checking tents. Appeared to be checking tents as he walked past the plaza in front of the courthouse to the location where the
front door of Hildo Sale's supervisor, Hilda Sale's field office. He came to h area which had a yellow tent. He opened the tent, stuck a firearm in the tent and fired went round. Uh. The suspect walked in a westerly direction and then in a southerly direction and entered a silver colored PT
Cruiser on the right front passenger side suspect vehicle. The PT Cruiser UH drove UH, turned right, I'm federally here and UH made uh a rite on Third Street and was last seen UH traveling UH westbound on Third Street and out of view. The suspect is described uh UH he was approximately five eight to five nine, a hundred and eighty five pounds and wearing dark clothing. Is all we have. UH. We have information from witnesses that the driver appeared
to be a little older. He was described as the male, hispanic, approximately five nine or so, heavy set, possibly possibly had a mustache. That's what we were told. These suspects are extremely dangerous. We're hoping for the public's help. We have thanks to Supervisor Hilda Solif, we received a eighty thousand dollars reward for information wanted in connection with all three of these murders. We believe they are all related, and we believe the killers are serial
killers and could strike again. You were talking about a person came up and was looking intense, So it's a serial killer. But were these targeted attacks? Yes, they appeared to be. Can you elaborate at all about that. We believe that the victims knew the suspect is all we could say at this point. Now you got you say you were able to get a description of the shooter and how were you able to get that description? There was
numerous witnesses. There was an encampment located in front of the East LA Courthouse. There was approximately twenty to twenty five people living in the encampment. Encampment. They're homeless people. They most of them know each other, most of them knew the victim Amanda Nicole Lopez, and they initially were cooperating with investigators, but suddenly they decided to change their mind and then decided not to cooperate with the investigation. It's the reason. Why do you think Do you think
that they were scared or intimidated? I believe they were. We were told they were approached and intimidated by the suspect, by the suspect and family members of the suspect. Possibly. So you're looking at I mean, there's the shooter and then you see the driver of the car. But this could have a bigger footprint than initially thought. Yes, so you have a serial killer that might be supported by the killer's family possibly yes, family and possibly friends.
Now for those people who may not be aware of the law, to even be a part of this or to have knowledge of this makes you as much of a criminal as the person who committed Yes, yes, So what do you want to say to them? You if you continued, I want to say this to the public, there's no reason to be afraid anymore. We can't let continue to let people get away with murder. And if you want to be involved with the murder or a serial killer, you will be
prosecuted also based on obviously information you know that we don't. Do you think that this person's done or do you think this person's going to keep going? We believe that he may have been involved in the possibly another murder, and we do believe that if we don't catch him, that he will continue to kill people. Detective, what is the common theme here in the victims?
Is there a common theme at all that you can talk about. We believe that the victims all new assesspect in some way or another, romantically or otherwise. Possibly. What about the ballistics, because I am sure that that has
those that have any relation. I mean, any of the ballistic analysis and forensics that you have done have yielded the fact that it was the same weapon, the same type of caliber, etc. You're not gonna talk about ballistic evidence if you're comfortable, But you're comfortable enough obviously that the person that you're looking for is the same one that's tied to most all of these or all of them. I'm extremely confident. The mother of Amanda Lopez shows up while
we're talking with detectives. We'll listen to her comments next, but first, this is KFI AM six forty time for a news update. You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand k I AM six forty heard everywhere live on the iHeartRadio app. This is Unsolved. I'm Steve Gregory. For a deeper dive on these cases, go over to KFI AM six forty dot com and type in the keyword unsolved. We just wrapped up an interview with Ray Lugo.
He's a detective with the La County Sheriff's Department, and as we're finishing up, a woman approaches us. Lugo introduces her as the mother of Nikki Lopez, the third victim of the East La murder spring. If I may ask you your full name, Roselle Lopez, the name of your daughter and her age, Amanda Nicole Lopez. At the time of her death, she was twenty seven. Roselle has a mask on and that's why it sounds muffled. My daughter was a very fun loving person. She loved her son,
she was a mother, She loved her family, her friends. She was just all around good girl. So take us to the day. How did you find out what happened to your daughter? A friend of hers had called me. I was also friends with her she grew up in our family, and UH told me what had happened, and I needed confirmation. So my sister called the East La Sheriff's Department of Homicide Division and they sent two detectives over to confirm that it was my daughter. So what did they say happened?
Just that she was shot? Is there any idea at all as too? I mean, did you think that she was targeted? Did you think this was random? Did you have any idea why someone might have wanted to hurt her? I had no idea whatsoever. She wasn't in trouble. Well, I mean, I had no idea why anybody would want to do this. What were detectives able to tell you at all about the case? And
what were they able to tell you about how things are are moving? Not much, just what had happened and they were going to work on it. We just had the three year anniversary of her passing, so it's really not much on that front now. When we just arrived here, I couldn't help by noticing your pain. I mean, this is an incredibly difficult situation for your particularly because we're standing which she was sadly murdered. Yes, it's very
hard every time I come to this spot. It's extremely hard. It's a pain that no parents should have to go through. Now, somebody out there, nose, somebody out there maybe watching what you're saying here. What do you want to say to the killer, to the person who was driving that vehicle too, anybody who may be withholding information that is needed now to get
some justice for you and your family. Kius. Anyone who has any information, can they please come forward and contact the East LA Shaff's Department Homicide Division. We know that there were people there at that time. Why they're not coming forward we don't know. So please, if you have any information this, please come forward. Why was she here? What was going through her life? And how are things with her that she was here? She became
homeless, so that's how she ended up here. Had you been in touch with her on a regular basis the last two weeks before she passed? I had not spoken to him. So her son? You mentioned that she has a son, Yes, tell us about him. How's he coping? Is he aware of what happened? I don't know if he's aware. His father has cut off all contact with my side of the family, so I haven't
seen my grandson in over four years. Is there anything else so you want to tell us about her, anything that perhaps would trigger some sort of reaction in our community that somebody may know or have any idea anything. Amanda grew up in this area in East LA. She was known as the Nikki to her friends and all around the area. She's known as Nikki. That's the nickname she gave herself. And she just you know, loved the area and
he's always lived here. Is there anything else that you would like to add that we haven't asked you that you would want to say? Just my daughter was a good person and whoever is responsible for this needs to be brought to justice. She didn't deserve to die this way. Just why why they felt that they needed to be judged? Jerry an executioner and take my daughter's life? What could is she? What could she have done that was so wrong? She didn't deserve to die this way. Well, that's sort of a
rough background on each of them. And you heard Detective Lugo offer up a vague motive. Now keep in mind, he can't reveal all of his intel. Doing so could jeopardize the case. But Lugo and his team, well, they've got some tricks up their sleeves. For that, we head to the Hall of Justice in downtown LA, the headquarters for the Sheriff's Department.
It's the morning of August eighteenth, twenty twenty one. It is now my pleasure to introduce the Captain of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau, Joe Mendoza. Well, good morning, Thank you for being out here with us today. Now, some of this we've already heard by Detective Lugo, but I couldn't air all of what he told us yet. Now you'll hear
Captain Mendoza reveal just a little bit more. This is the murder of Jesse Avolos, who was murdered on Monday, February tenth, twenty fourteenth, at approximately three twenty five in the morning. He was seat belted in his vehicle in the driver's seat of his blue SUV and the hood of the vehicle was open. Deputies observe Avolos has sustained numerous gunshot wounds to his body during this time. The vehicle that the vehicle was parked in front of the location.
Two suspects were seen around the vehicle and quickly left that location. Second murder. This is a murder of Eduardo Roblis, who was murdered on Monday, July sixth, twenty fifteen, at seven twenty nine pm. Victim Roblist was involved in a physical altercation with the suspect in the driveway of a residence. The suspect then fled the location. At about five minutes later, the suspect returned to that driveway area shot victim Roblists numerous times in the upper torso.
Our third murder. This is a murder of Amanda Niki Lopez, who was murdered on Sunday, April twenty second, twenty eighteen, at approximately two forty am. Early that morning, a silver pt Cruiser drove into the Civic Center Way near East Los Angeles Courthouse. As he exited the passenger side of the vehicle and began searching for Nicki in the homeless encampment, the suspect ultimately located
Nicki in a tent. The suspect placed a firearm into the tent while nick was sleeping and fired once, striking her in the upper torso, resulting in her death. Coming out, Captain Mendoza gives a description and sketch of the shooter and his accomplice. This would play into some of those tricks I was telling you about earlier. But first, this is KFI AM six forty. You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand. I AM six forty heard
everywhere live on the iHeartRadio app. This is unsolved. I'm Steve Gregory. If you've got a story, idea, or even a tip about a case you're hearing about, grab your cell phone and dial pound two point fifty and just say the keyword unsolved. Just leave you name, contact information, a brief summary of your tip or story. That's pound two point fifty, keyword unsolved. We've been listening to the actual press conference from August eighteenth to twenty
twenty one at La County Sheriff's headquarters in downtown La Amicie. Bureau Captain Joel Mendoz has been giving an overview of the three murders he says were done by the same guy with an accomplice. We're able to get a good description of the first suspect, and he was described as a male Hispanic in his late twenties with short hair, five foot eight inches tall, with a medium build.
Witnesses and video surveillance also allowed us to get a good description of the second suspect, who is the driver of the vehicle in the second and third murders, which occurred in twenty fifteen and twenty eighteen. He's described as a male Hispanic in his mid to late forties five eight to five nine, heavy
set, with a possible mustache. Remember when we heard from Jesseavolos's sister Maria from near the sing of her brother's murder, Well, she and another sister were at this press conference as of old eldest sister of Jesu's Jesse Alos. I just want to tell the community that or anyone in La County who has
information regarding these crimes to please come forward. I think I speak for my family as well as the other two families, that we don't have closure, we don't have justice, and I'm sure all of these families are still suffering. Please help us, Please come forward with any information you may have. Thank you. I'd like to introduce Bertha Bertha Alos, she's also a family
member and sister of Jesse Avolos. Thank you for being here. I just want to reiterate what my sister stated, and please come forward if you guys have any information about these murders. Our brother is truly missed by our family, by his children, and I know that this is not going to bring him back, but it will bring us some sort of closure in this devastating
murder that happened to him and the rest of the victims. So I plead that you please reach out if you guys have any sort of information that will help solve these crimes. Thank you very much. Well, now take any questions. Now it's time for the question and answer session, and I get in the first question an action between these three murders. Is there a common theme here? Well, I can't speak to the motive until I think we bring the suspects of justice, but what I can say is that they are
all connected in some way through the community. We believe they were known to the suspects. However, we're not too clear on what that connection was. So if they were target they were targeted based on the relationships with the suspects. Is it possible despair, we could take a conflict or other murders.
Yes, anything's possible. At this point, We're able to make three connections and those are right now we're focusing on but of course we always leave all our investigative options open and see if there's any other leads to any other murders. I noticed that the date on the sketches is in May. Is there
a reason why it took so long to release the sketches. Yes, we were trying to put together all of the information to make sure that we were prepared to share this information with the public as accurately as we could, Thank you, Sir Chaptain. Beyond the ballistics of us, anything else that we think these people, these dictives had a time as to why they might have
been sort of the targeted, we do not know at this time. We do believe that there is a connection as far as they knew each other, there was specifically targeted, but the exact reasons we don't have that information at this time. Through the education of these guys, I need to say it, they're a hit team. They're going out. They'll take a contact, they'll go ahead, they'll go somebody for whatever reason, emotional money, whatever
it might be, vegeance. We don't have any information leading us to believe that at this time, after so many years, seven years, six years, three years of this what led to the point of saying, wait a minute, I hold that this is the same shooters. One of the things that's unique about Ali County Sharf's Homicide Bureau is that we're centralized and we commonly
speak to other investigators about our cases. So when investigators were comparing notes on cases, then they believe that they had similar descriptions of the suspects, and that's when they really started to connect the dots. So after the description, what was the next link in this The link was the descriptions that all both of the suspects were similarly described. And also there was a between the twenty fourteen and the twenty fifteen murders. When collected ballistics and compare them, it
was the same weapon that was using those murders. And that was the reasons that now we're coming forward. We have the information, we have the cooperation from all of the supervisor's office that came forward with the eighty thousand dollars, and now we are looking for witnesses, somebody that can help us to bring that piece of the puzzle that we're missing and bring closure to these families. To DNA evidence of any of these victims at all putish when the killings close
enough where something was there. That is something that in every single case we did do DNA, that we process all the DNA, but at this time we're not going to share that. It's part of the investigation that we are not sharing now. As a reporter, the key takeaways from this press conference are the video the PT cruiser, and a sketch of the two men. Remember when Detective Lugo told me he believed the two suspects could be related.
Well, Lugo had already confirmed to me weeks prior that the two men were father and son, but I was asked not to reveal that in other details. Now, this is important to building trust with detectives, which also helps my access to the backstory of cases like this one. That trust would pay off in a big way, and we'll get to more on that later. Well, there you go, it's out in the open. A sketch of the two men, more details about the murders, and pleas from family members.
And how does all of this help. I'll tell you coming up, including how I found out about the ID and pending arrest of the father and son, and how I was the only reporter on scene when the two were handcuffed. But first, this is KFI AM six forty. You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand KFI AM six forty heard everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. I'm Steve Gregory and this is Unsolved. To see exclusive pictures, video and the sketches provided by the La County Shriff's Department, head over to
KFIAM six forty dot com keyword unsolved. We've also got a transcript of this episode. Also, if you want to contact the team, just email us Unsolved at iHeartMedia dot com and don't forget. If you have a story, idea or a tip on your cell phone, it's pound two fifty keyword unsolved. Before the break, I let you in on some exclusive behind the scenes interviews on a press conference announcing descriptions of the two men connected with the murders
of three people in the East LA area over a four year period. The press conference was on August eighteenth, twenty twenty one, and earlier that morning I was able to use some of that audio un heard in the last hour to break the story of the three murders being connected, along with a sketch We were able to get it on hours before anybody else. It's forty live
everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. LA Kenny Sheriff's detective say an eighty thousand dollars reward has been offered to find two men connected with three deaths in East LA. Investigators say one man was killed in twenty fourteen, another man in twenty fifteen, and a homeless woman in twenty eighteen. Is there a common theme at all that you can talk about. We believe that the victims all knew the suspect in some way or another, romantically or otherwise possibly. Detective Ray
Lugo says, one guy's the shooter. The other may have driven the shooter around in a silver Pete Cruiser. Male Hispanic, approximately five eight to five nine, one hundred and eighty five pounds and wearing dark clothing, The driver a little older. He was described that the male Hispanic approximately five nine or so, heavy set, possibly had a mustache. Lugo says the shooter and
the driver are most likely getting support from family member and or friends. Do you think that this person's done or do you think this person's going to keep going? We believe that he may been involved in the possibly another murder, and we do believe that if we don't catch him, that he will continue to kill people. Lugo says they've been able to put a composite sketch of them in together. You can see the sketch on our website at KFI AM
six forty dot com Steve Gregory Kaffi. And within a few hours of our story on KFI, both on Aaron Online and the press conference, I was told phones at the Sheriff's Department's homicide biro blew up. In fact, something unusual happened, Detective Ray Lugo told me. Among the first few calls were some of the strongest leads they had, and when they put the sketch on an electronic billboard in front of the Citadel Outlet stores and commerce, even more
solid leads came in. A few days passed, and everything seemed pretty quiet. Up to the press conference. I was getting pretty regular updates from the detectives, and it seem things were moving at a pretty fast pace. Then all of a sudden, everything went quiet, no calls, no texts, and I wasn't going to bother anybody. They certainly had more important things to do than keep me posted, and besides, it's not like there's not a lot of other news going on in the area. But then a few weeks
later, completely out of the blue, Detective Ray Lugo calls. He says, Steve, we know who they are, we know where they live, and we're putting a surveillance team on him. I was like, wow, that was fast, and that's when Lugo told me about all the great tips and leads that were coming in. In fact, some of them led Lugo and his team out of town and out of state. Lugo told me sit tight, wait for his call. Well, of course I was pushing in for more details. He told me a little bit more, and I knew
he knew a lot more, but I was still sworn to secrecy. So I moved on to some other stories, including a heart wrenching cold case out of Almonte, which involved the death of a fourteen year old girl who was an innocent victim of a gang hit, and more than twenty years later, detectives would get the evidence they needed to put the pieces together, and it all happened by accident. So I'll have that story coming up in a few episode. I was stuck in traffic one morning, sitting in my news truck
on the four h five when the phone rang. Caller I d said, Ray Lugo. My heart rate jumped up. I was almost too nervous to answer. Then I heard the voice. It was Lugo. He says, Steve, it's set. We're moving in on September twenty third, at zero four to thirty hours details later. Got a run Oh and you get to go see you later. Click, I shouted. I took a deep breath and called my boss. I have to keep him in the loop for liability reasons, but I don't have to tell him everything, so it would appear
the trap was set. Now here's the clincher. I got the call on September eighth. That shows you how far in advance they have to work the takedown, and it's a lot of coordination. They were going to use deputies from the East LA station for perimeter security and the arrest itself, the SWAT team from the department's Special Enforcement Bureau for entry into the house. Other detectives
would be on scene to assist. There's the DA's office, a forensics team, a canine unit that specializes in electronics, a lot of coordination, and I was the only reporter in LA with this intel. That's a lot of trust from the Homicide Bureau. This is a continent nada right here. Case it's not very much because your flare everything. Yes, yes, forts what's that he's yeah, yeah. Well, the day finally arrived Thursday, September
twenty third, three point thirty am. I arrive at the Sheriff's Special Enforcement Bureau staging area and after a short briefing, I take my truck and fall in line with a convoy. The location is only a couple miles from the SWAT team's headquarters. It's still dark. Turn off our headlights. Igned behind some Sheriffs SUVs, which are behind the massive SWAP vehicles. In fact, you see all the SWAT guys hanging on the outside of the truck, weapons
in tow. They're all holding onto the rails. They're all decked out. We arrive at few houses down from the target. I'm told to stay back until the SWAT teams entered the house and it's safe to approach. I was allowed to put a microphone on one of the deputies who was allowed into the hot zone. We are live it's gonna be recording the whole time. The best way for you to get a sense of that morning is to let you listen to the actual news feature I filed from the scene for KFI News.
Now. This is a portion of my report that aired the next morning. After a quick briefing, I followed in behind a convoy of SWAT vehicles and SUVs to the east LA. Then I got into position. The primary, as they call it, was thirty one year old Anthony Velasquez, the man investigators say, shot and killed all three people. Jepanese paded him down before placing him into a van. Did you have anything illegal on him? Nope? Ookning, n nothing needles or anything. Nah, you're on pro probation,
nope. All right, We're gonna make sure you have nothing illegal on you, okayble. Moments later, they arrest Velaskez's fifty one year old father, Manuel. Investigator say Manuel not only covered up for his son, but in at least two of the murders. He drove his son Anthony two and from the crime scenes, the father's placed into the back of the van behind
his son. All Right, Taylor Timpment were making contact with and does things look like they may have been finished and a male that are in a room on the water apartment gotby the SWAT team discovers another man and woman staying in the house. It ends up being the sister of Anthony Velaskeez and the sister's boyfriend. Detectives told me they didn't think the couple had any knowledge about the
actions of the father and son. As you heard, the two were put into a van, and when the son was put in the van, I was able to snap a shot of him sitting down. Let's just say he gave me quite a facial expression. You can go to our web page to see it or our social media at Unsolved KFI. Coming up, I'll explain some of the interesting ways detectives were able to get the men into custody. As Unsolved continues, but first, this is KFI AM six forty time for
a news update. You're listening to CHAO six forty on demand. I AM six forty heard everywhere live on the iHeartRadio app. I'm Steve Gregory and this is Unsolved. We're in East LA. The three hundred block of Humphreys Avenue is the home of two men who've been arrested in connection with three murders from twenty fourteen to twenty eighteen. The two were put into a van where they set for about forty five minutes and come to find out, that's intentional.
Let's just say it's a tactic that sometimes yields great intel. And while they sit and ponder their future, detectives were inside the house searching for clues and evidence. By now, the neighborhood was waking up. People were gathered in their front yards curious about all the deputies and detectives. One of the neighbors approached me asked me what was going on. When I told her, she
was shocked and relieved. Why and I E. I s we're to God, Oh Goddess, swear to God, the cups passed spy and we're sending pictures to each house. But what the police. Yeah, there was leaving papers in each house here with THEE and I swear to got a stack of Bibles. I wouldn't lie to you. I told my didn't. Hey that car, there's not too many cars like that. Yeah. A lot of the neighbors were afraid of these guys. Yeah. Yeah, they couldn't even
look at the WII. Oh my god. Yeah, but they're sitting right there in that van, this white one. Yeah, yeah, it's true. We were all afraid. It's true. Really Yeah. Why threatening? They're very threatening, very threatening. When there was an accident here in the neighborhood, they jumped, they came out of their house and they got they got a knife and they punctured the tires of the car that hit other cars
here in the neighborhood. And uh, the guy the sun ran out and got a knife and started popping the tires of the guy so he wouldn't leave. And you heard about the neighbor talking about the flyer that went out with the sketch of both the father and the son. That was an interesting tactic as well. As they handed out those flyers almost exclusively in this neighborhood, and with that eighty thousand dollars reward hanging over it, a lot of people
came out of the woodwork. At this point, I was able to speak with Lieutenant Hugo Renaga, he's the head of the department's cold case unit. Did you get really good solid intel from that press conference? I mean, those tips that are coming in, I know detectives have been up north of LA, they've been in Texas. I mean, you got some pretty solid leads. There was certain few, I mean two or three that were really
really tied the suspect to all three of these murders. These three phone calls that I'm talking in that came in or came in right like with an hour after the press conference. So they must have been watching this on TV or they heard it on the radio or something. But uh, they they pretty much came out of the would work pretty quickly as soon as you make something public. Is it unusual to get such solidly so quickly? It is?
And uh, from my experience, usually when when there's some kind of reward, or when the victim or witnesses in these cases feel like they're safe, maybe they're maybe not living in this area anymore, and they're they're gone from the from the neighborhood, they feel a little more secure. But it's very seldom that we get these these big leads and these big uh witness statements,
Uh, right out of the gate. And is it also unusual for a murder suspect in any any of those accomplices to live so close to the murder scenes. Well, you know, it's it's not unusual. Well, let me rephrase. Is it unusual for someone to go back and sort of settle in in the same community where the murders were committed, as opposed to taking off and going somewhere else. So it's not unusual when when your neighbors fear
you, you know, when there's fear in the neighborhood. And I want to say a lot of these people that live in this neighborhood either had an idea that this was the suspect or had heard through other people that this was the suspect. But a lot of these people are are they're they're because they live in the area and that they are feared that you know, if they say anything to the police, they may be a victim at some point. So is it safe to say most of your tips came from in this neighborhood.
Yes. By now other media outlets were on the scene, but I was still inside the perimeter. But all of a sudden, I was given some insider information to see, well, so you're going to take them in your car the primary, so they need to be over there, So they're gonna they're going to take out the primary. The primaries in this van, gonna walk him this way, told one of the radio cars. So I
don't know. I was told where to stand to get the best view of Anthony Velasquez as he was being transferred from the van to a patrol vehicle. From here he would head to central Booking, where he'd be processed and put into a cell. The video I captured was pretty good. I had the best seat in the house, and a Velasquez was being walked over to the suv. I had a chance to ask him a question, why did you kill those people? Excuse you, sir? I got this. I see
what's say any reason why you killed him? That suv drove away, another pulled forward. That one was for his father. The operation was over and labeled a success. The best part, no one was injured and there was no gunfire. As of this airing, Anthony Velasquez was charged with three counts of murder. His father, Manuel was charged with one count of murder and as an accessory in at least one other murder. The son was in jail
on six million dollars bail, the father two million. It's not clear who or how many people will be eligible to split the eighty thousand dollars reward. Now, it would appear the three murder cases were solved, and this is a program about unsolved cases. But at the time we were in pre production, the cases were still unsolved. But we thought you'd like to go through the process of seeing how just the smallest tips and leads can lead to the
biggest results. This was a great opportunity to bring you along with us behind the scenes. Now to see some cool pictures and video of the arrest, go to KFIAM six forty dot com keyword unsolved. Coming up. A tragic case from San Bernardino County involving a newborn. But first, this is KFI AM six forty. You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand, KFI AM six forty heard everywhere live on the iHeartRadio app. I'm Steve Gregory and
this is unsolved. This is the death of baby Jane Doe number forty five, Sam Bernardino County Sheriff's homicide case number one nine one four seven three sixty five. The Henry number is two zero one four dash eighty seven. Detective Eric Ogaz is spearheading the case. I sat with him at the Department's homicide Unit in the City of San Bernardino. Caution, this case is graphic, detective. Thanks for your time, Thank you. So let's start. Baby
Jane Doe. That's got to be one of the most disturbing things you hear. I mean a baby Jane Doe. That's you know, anything dealing with children, missing children, abuse children, and in this particular case, baby Jane Doe that ended up being found deceeized. That's correct. Well, basically, on October first of twenty fourteen, the workers at the Advanced Disposal, which is a jump yard up in the high desert, the Victor Villa spurry
area, they were sorting to the trash. When the trash truck arrives. They dump the trash in assert area and the trash then goes up a conveyor belt and the workers or employees separate the recyclables from the regular trash. While the workers were sorting through the trash and the conveyor belt, they came across a newborn child. Wow, have you spoken to anybody yet from that company? Or is that company still around? That company is still around and everyone
there has already been spoken with too. It's just I have heard about this in other cases. I remember a case in Orange County where there were prostitutes being disposed of this way. This seems to be you know, could this be a nefarious actor you think? Or this was a situation where a mother had an unwanted pregnancy. What's your experience to tell you on this? Well, that's what we're trying to figure out. That's what we need to find
out, regardless of what the situation was. We need to find out why the child was deceased on a convertor belt in the dump. Why is someone placed their child into a trash can. As far as the reasons are, how or why, that's something we have to come to the conclusion based upon our investigation. So were you able to pinpoint the route that this particular baby may been a part of? Yes, based upon the where the trash was dumped at the facility, they were able to connect it with the actual truck
that dumped in that area. And then the route of that truck was through the Hysperia area. Okay, So then if you focus on Hysperia area, and then when did you get this case? Because I know sometimes you just you get these cases and they've already been looked at by other detectives. So when how long have you had this case? I got this case approximately six months ago. Six months ago, okay, So tell us a little bit about some of the progress you've made thus far. So you say, Hesperia
is where the route originated. Was it a residential route or an industrial route? It was a residential round And then do you how do you focus in on that? Then? Well, basically, going through the report, investigators at the time went out, did door to door contact, referenced the area and the residences in which that track that trash truck picked up a trash hoping to identify or locate a female that looked like they, you know, just had a child, or someone that said, hey, we had a neighbor.
We know she was pregnant and now she's not pregnant, but we've never seen the child. Anything that would stir up a lead. Was the and I don't know if this is a little too in the weeds, but can you tell whether or not it was a baby that was placed in one of those residential the bins with the wheels on it, or was it in another thing? Is did they pick up only those bins or was there like a larger dumpster. Do you know any of that kind of detail? That's hard
to tell. I mean when the like I said, it's all the trash is dumped in one pile and then goes up the conveyor belt. And as you can imagine, you know, the child's in that back of a trash truck that's constantly getting compacted and trash getting mixed in and around, you know, around the child. We're talking with Detective Eric Ogas with the San Berdandino County Sheriff's Department about a baby, Jane Doe. So what else can you
tell us about the young child? Ethnicity? What was the condition of the body It was an Hispanic female child, and the condition of the body that she was She was mutilated obviously by it appears to be we believed to be from the trash compacting. Okay, not from some not from another person. At this time, we have no reason to believe that we believed her injuries were from the trash, the trash, the compaction, coaction, you know, the compaction of the truck. Yeah, no, no, that's fine.
So any idea of the timeline how long had the baby been deceased? That is something that there's an aptopsy obviously conducted by the Samuel County and Corners Office, and they came to a conclusion of approximate time. And that's something I kind of want to hold to myself right now. Sure when that interview people and talk to people in the future, understandable the thought that you're in homicide. You've done cases before. What type of a person does something like
this? I'm not a psychiatrist, so yeah, but you know what homicide detectives, they have an innate sense. They can kind of they signs people up. You signed people up for a living. So what type of person does this? Well, there's different circumstances which could happen. It could be a real facetious person just a cruel you know, does not want to have the child in discards a child in the trash can. It could be a still born trying to hide either from parents or a love one that they were
pregnant and throw the child in the trash. I mean, there's different reasons why people do things that I don't understand, but nevertheless they do. To learn more about this case and others, go to KFIAM six forty dot com. Keyword unsolved, And if you have a tip or story idea, grab your cell phone and dial pound two fifty and say the keyword unsolved. More with Detective Ogas from the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department. But first, this
is KFI AM six forty. You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand KFI AM six forty heard everywhere live on the iHeartRadio app. This is unsolved. I'm Steve Gregory. October first, twenty fourteen, workers at a trash sorting facility in Victor Revealed come across the most gruesome discovery possible, a newborn on a conveyor belt. Detective Eric Ogaz with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Homicide
Unit says the baby was dumped abandoned without a trace. Detective, given the anonymity and the condition of the baby, I suppose it's like finding the proverbial needle in a haystack. So where does one start when investigating this and do you have any leads? Well, at the time the child was on the conveyor belt. Once the child was located by the workers, they immediately stopped
the conveyor belt backed away in order to fight. The supervisor depths responded and basically froze that crime scene so nothing moved or was touched around that child. Investigators went out there and went through the trash that was near that child and looked for envelopes, addresses, you know, your mail that you know, your bills that come to your house, and they had several addresses which also confirmed that the route that truck took during that period of time. And then
to make contact at those addresses looking for leads. Then when you look back at that, you know, I think there's always an assumption that's probably a young woman, maybe a high school student. Yes, and do you go to nearby high schools? How do you do you do that? As well? They did. Investigators back then went back to the Spirit Spirit Unified Schools District and interviewed numerous teenage females. Also checked for their attendance records to see
if anyone was absent for extended period of time during that timeframe. And for obvious reasons. I mean, we're talking to you all the females, the
students there. You're hoping to get leads. You're hoping that someone's gonna say, yes, my friend was pregnant, and you know, this is why I think she did or she's not pregnant anymore, that someone would know something or you would obviously sit down and actually talked with that student and just based upon interviewing them, you could tell by talking with them that they are scared or upset and that they were pregnant by talking with them and getting them to
submit to that. And the sad thing about that is obviously nothing panned out. It sounds like nothing panned out from that that approach. But you know, it could also have been an older woman. It could have been absolutely a different age woman who you know, an unwanted pregnancy, or it could have been a relative of a or a friend of someone that came over. And so yeah, that's that's what I mean. It's just so what happens
next? How where do you go from here? Basically, from here, we have some things that we're trying through new technologies, I guess you would say, and in in homicide, things that we could research that obviously I can't say at this time, but you're right when you say things and you're
talking about forensics or technology and forensics. Absolutely, Okay, where does this take you hopefully it's going to lead us to uh, you know, if the child is mother has been in prison before or incarstady before through uh DNA,
hopefully we could match that now to that person. As we know, when you're arrested for a fellion now in California, you're given a DNA swab that's held and hopefully the we're getting the DNA from the from the baby, having it submitted and put into what's called our coded system, and hopefully it comes back to two match a match. You said earlier you didn't want to talk about how long you thought the baby was deceased, but can you tell us about how old the baby might have been? I will say this,
it was a newborn. It was a newborn, so newborn, so define newborn in your habilical cord still attached. Okay, that's yeah, that's gosh. That's a tough one to swallow, you know, that's a tough one to really digest. And I can't imagine those on a conveyor belt. Yes, and I mean they must have been a little bit in shock. I
remember the conveyor belt workers. It was a recycling plant, and I believe it was anaheim A few years ago, and they all had to go through therapy and because they didn't, you know, they didn't realize they're used to seeing so much trash and stuff, and then when you see a human body, you don't. It doesn't your brain doesn't process it. No, absolutely, especially when you know, all all deaths or tragedies, especially be the
one when it's a child. I mean not only for the workers there, but even the deputy sheriffs that responded to the investigators that handle that case. Whenever you see a child that's a newborn mutilated, you know, it makes you it makes your heart sink, and it's it it's hard to see and it's difficult to take in. So what is it you want people to to
do? I mean, what do you need from people now? Well, you know, during that timeframe of October first, two thousand and four teen in the High Desert area, and I say a high desert meaning Victorville, Asperia or Apple Valley, if you're aware of anyone at that time that was pregnant and towards basically full term and then was no longer pregnant and they had no excuse to what happened to that child, you know, contact us any leads that you guys can give us, we would greatly appreciate. You know,
it's it's a goal of mine. You know, she's identified to us as baby Jane Doe forty five, and it's a goal of mine to put a name to her. I mean, as of now, she's laid to rest with the name of baby Joe forty five, and I'll like to put a name to her. Yea, I know this is a goal of yours. And you're talking about new technology. Are you hopeful you'll you'll be able to sell this case. I am hopeful, and I'm gonna continue to work
it. I'm not gonna stop working at their different angles and to hopefully I can make that conclusion and get her identified and find out why. Like I said, there's several different reasons why, you know, not that there are good reasons, but to why something happened. You know, I'd just like to get her identified. You might want to take this opportunity to remind people
about safe surrender. Oh absolutely. You know, if if you have a child, you could drop the child off at I should drop the child off. You could bring the child to like a local hospital and they would take the child with no questions ask fire departments, fire departments too, police department's shaft. I mean pretty much any law enforcement or first responder agency. Absolutely, And the key is no questions asked. That is the key. It's
a better alternative. Absolutely, Detective, thank you so much for your time. Appreciate it. Oh you're welcome, Thank you, good luck. That's going to do it. For more on this and other cases, go to our website at k f I AM six forty dot com. Keyword and Soul Unsolved with Steve Gregory as a production of the CAFI News Department for iHeartMedia, Los Angeles, Robin Bertolucci Program Director Chris Little, news Director. The program
is produced by Steve Gregory and Jacob Gonzalez. Our digital producer is Andro Mamo. Coming up next, it's Coast to Coast, But first this is KFI AM six forty. KFI AM six forty on demand