Archive for the ‘San Bernardino’ tag
CA AMBER Alert: Vasquez Siblings
07.14.09: The Vasquez Siblings were located safe.
Original Post: July 14, 2009Click for UpdatesView Sources
An AMBER Alert was issued earlier this afternoon by the California Highway Patrol for the following counties: Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura after children were reportedly abducted from a Norwalk parking lot located on Pioneer Boulevard. The vehicle was last seen traveling east bound on Pioneer Boulevard.
The father of 2-year-old Sheryl Lynn Vasquez and 5-year-old Noel Vasquez claims he left his children inside his vehicle in the parking lot with the engine running while he ran inside the store for a few minutes. When he came back outside the vehicle and his children were gone. The father reported the stolen vehicle shortly before 3 p.m. today.
There are no pictures available of the abducted children at this time.
Anyone with information about this case is asked to call the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department at 562-863-8711 or 9-1-1.
This abduction occurred less than ten minutes from my home. If this guy jumped on the freeway the closest freeways are the 605, 5 and 91.
Local news affiliate CBS2 is reporting that there is a very heavy police presence in the area with different agencies responding to search for the children. Of concern is the suspect may have ditched the vehicle after realizing the children were inside the car. Current temperatures are hovering at 90 degrees. Authorities are searching parking lots and streets in the area. There is also surveillance video of the car theft and abduction. It shows the suspect walking around the vehicle and then climbing into the vehicle and driving off.
Victim 1: Sheryl Lynn Vasquez
Sheryl Lynn is a 2-year-Hispanic female with brown hair and unknown eye color. She is 2FT tall and weights 25LBS. When last seen Sheryl Lynn was wearing a pink shirt with flowers and white shorts.
Victim 2: Noel Vasquez
Noel is a 5-year-old Hispanic male with brown hair and unknown eye color. He is 3FT tall and weighs 45LBS. When last seen Noel was wearing a white shirt with red Spiderman shorts.
Suspect: Unknown
The suspect is described as an unknown Hispanic male last seen wearing a white shirt and dark shorts. He has a shaved head.
Suspect Vehicle
The vehicle is the one stolen from the parking lot belonging to the victims’ father. 2005 Blue Toyota Scion with California License 5HPC820
July 14, 2009: 8:30 p.m. PST
The AMBER Alert has been resolved with the children being found safe at a gas station in the city of Compton. Police believe the suspect may not have realized the children were sitting in the backseat of the vehicle, strapped into their child safety seats, because the van windows were darkly tinted. There is no word on the suspect. I am glad to see this story had a happy ending. I hope this father learned a lesson about leaving his children unattended in a vehicle, especially with the engine running.
AMBER Alert Case: Vasquez, Sheryl Lynn & Noel, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Last Accessed: July 14, 2009.
Amber Alert Issued for 2 Children in Car Stolen in Norwalk, CBS2.com, Last Accessed: July 14, 2009.
Children Found Safe in Compton After Car Stolen, NBC Los Angeles.com, Last Accessed: July 14, 2009.
CA Murdered Teen – Brenda Sierra
Original Post: January 16, 2006No UpdatesView Sources
Around 7:00 a.m. the morning of October 18, 2002, 15-year-old Brenda Sierra set out to walk to her friend’s house so she could catch a ride to school from her friend’s mother. Her friend is quoted in news accounts saying that Brenda always arrived at her home between 7:15 and 7:20 a.m., but Brenda never arrived that morning. Apparently the school did not contact Brenda’s parents to let them know she was absent that day.
Brenda’s family members knew that she had a hair appointment scheduled after school that day so they did not become concerned when she did not arrive home. They began to become concerned at approximately 6:00 p.m. They contacted the hair salon and found that Brenda never arrived for her appointment. They contacted Brenda’s friend and that is when they learned that Brenda had never made it to her friend’s home for the regular ride to school.
They immediately called police but it took deputies three hours to come to their home and take the report. Even at that point officers told her family that it was not uncommon for 15-year-olds to disappear and then come back home soon; they considered her a runaway. Officers explained to the distraught the family that they could not issue an Amber Alert because they did not have a vehicle description and they did not have evidence that Brenda had in fact been kidnapped. Members of Brenda’s family printed out over a thousand fliers and distributed them in the area of the school as well as in the local area. Her disappearance received very little media coverage until her body was discovered 2 days later.
Brenda’s body was discovered underneath a tree by people taking a walk in the San Bernardino, California Mountains in an area known as Land of Enchantment. I mapped the distance from the city of Montebello, California to the Land of Enchantment using MapQuest. The drive is one hour and eleven minutes. If Brenda was kidnapped and later murdered at the mountain location she most likely had a terrible last hour of her life. If she was murdered close to where she was abducted then her murderer went to great lengths to hide her body.
The autopsy revealed that Brenda died from blunt force trauma to her head. Other details of her murder are being kept quiet to preserve the integrity of the investigation.
Because the alleged abduction took place in an area other than where the body was recovered two law enforcement jurisdictions are investigating Brenda’s murder; the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
Brenda’s family demanded answers from Los Angeles County officials about why the sheriff’s department expressed a lack of interest in Brenda’s disappearance. The family received some recognition from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on October 25, 2002 according to the following news advisory:
County of Los Angeles
Contact: Judy Hammond, Director of Public Affairs, (213) 974-1363
Victoria Pipkin, Assistant Director, (213) 974-1652
Live videofeed, English and Spanish, Telco #948075
Audio (213) 974-4700
October 25, 2002
OCT. 29 AGENDA HIGHLIGHTS BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
9:30 A.M.
Sheriff asked to report on the handling of the Oct. 18 missing persons case involving Brenda Sierra, including why no Amber Alert was issued. The teenager’s body was found Oct. 21 in San Bernardino County. A $5,000 reward for information is recommended.1
The family was not happy with the recommended reward amount and through further efforts of Supervisor Gloria Molina the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has increased the reward amount to $150,000.
New information came to light during the on-going investigation into Brenda’s murder. Law enforcement officials feel confident that Brenda was murdered by members of a street gang known as the LOTT gang.
“…The LOTT (Living On The Top) gang is based in Los Angeles and East Los Angeles. It started in the 1970s as a group of friends who got together at a vacant lot to get stoned on hard drugs, according to the Web site streetgangs.com, published by USC doctoral student Alejandro Alonso.
As members went to prison and the drug trade grew, the gang grew more violent and evolved into a traditional street gang, complete with tattoos, organized drug dealing and killing, according to the site…”2
The code of silence is strong among the gang members as well as the parents of the gang members. According to one detective:
“…We even interviewed some of these little gangsters, who told us they know and said they are not going to tell us,’ he said.
On one occasion, a young man was about to tell detectives what he knew, but then his parents told him not to talk, Bradford said.
“We have parents running interference. I’ve never seen anything like it,’ he said…”3
In doing research for this story I came across a few message boards and a couple of blogs that mentioned Brenda Sierra. All spoke lovingly of her. According to her friends and family she was a friendly girl and a good student. The students at her former high school, Schurr High School in Montebello, California still hold vigils on the anniversary of her death. She was loved and she is missed.
The reward is out there, perhaps someone will decide having $150,000 is more important than loyalty and letting a murderer walk free.
I will leave you with this quote from the detective:
“…There is no doubt in my mind they did it,’ Bradford said. ‘I have been a deputy a long time, and not a lot of things bother me. But this one does. I know in my heart these people know what happened. This little girl did not deserve this. She was truly an innocent kid.’…”4
