Reporter finds San Pedro case is All in the Family

Using a police report from the incident, I tracked down a witness as well.

It took several weeks to put together. Just before I was done, I decided I had one more thing to do. I needed to stop by the place where the suspect, Cristian Herrera, had lived. I never expected anyone related to him to be there and went almost as an afterthought.

I arrived there and knocked on the door, hoping Herrera's brother, Martin, listed in police reports, was home.

Nobody answered. But as I turned to leave, a man rode up on a bicycle. "Martin?" I asked.

No, he told me. Martin was his brother. Wow, was I surprised. Who was this standing in front of me? Was this Cristian?

I tried my best in Spanish to explain who I was. (My best is "periodico") I asked him about the "accidente" and pointed up the street to where it occurred.

"What's your name?" I asked.

He told me his name was Henry Herrera. I asked about Cristian. "No Cristian," he told me a couple of times when I asked again.

I gave him my phone number and drove away. My heart was racing. Was that really Cristian? I couldn't wait to look again at the old photograph I had of him. They sure looked alike. Perhaps it was another brother I hadn't heard of.

When I got back to my desk, I looked at the photo. I couldn't say. I then checked my voice mail. I had a call, but it wasn't a typical message. No one spoke to me.

Instead, the caller said nothing and apparently believed he had hung up. Two men then began having a conversation with each other in Spanish, all on my recording. Two words I did understand: "Daily Breeze."

I had a few of our Spanish speaking employees listen. One laughed. "They don't like you," he told me.

They cursed, wondering "Who is this effing guy?"

Someone turned on some music and they began singing.

But it was apparent I had touched off some concern at the Herrera household. I called police and told them, "The family still lives there."

After my story ran on July 20, police received the tips they needed. FBI agents and LAPD officers staked out the same house I went to. On Friday, Cristian emerged and was taken into custody as he tried to flee again to Mexico.

I could not wait to see his booking photo. Was this the guy I had met?

No, it turned out. That really was his brother, Henry, who spoke to me.

It seems a little odd that Cristian Herrera was right back where he started and no one knew until my story came out. But I'm glad the article brought forth the tips to catch him.

And police were right. People who live in San Pedro like it so much they stay - or come back as is the case here.