September 2007 Archives

A man wanted in connection with the killing of his girlfriend was captured Thursday in Minneapolis, Minn., authorities said.
Isaac Campbell, 32, of San Gabriel, was caught following a short foot pursuit, Sheriff’s homicide Lt. Gil Carrillo said.
Detectives had been pursuing Campbell for nearly two weeks after discovering the body of his girlfriend Liya Lu, 31, in a trash can that had been dumped in an Arcadia backyard.
“I’m glad they caught him,” said Lu’s friend William Moo, of Rosemead. “I want to see justice done That’s all I can really process right now.”
frank.girardot@sgvn.com
http://insidesocal.com/sgvcrime

One day the PD promises more cooperation with our reporters on crime stories, the next day they are surly and uncooperative. What gives?
Very little information has been released in Tuesday's shooting that left a man dead on Belmont Avenue.
Today a reporter called about an event he witnessed and got a bunch of attitude and no information. Thanks guys.

We're all set to report an unusual rash of flag burnings in a Whittier neighborhood. The burnings, which have targeted the red, white and blue as well as garden flags, have been taking place since August, officials said.

There are a lot of crime stories moving forward today.
Man-ling Williams pleaded not guilty in West Covina to charges of killing her husband and two children. In today's paper we had some of the first published comments from Neal Williams' mother Jan of Whittier.
Sheriff's Detectives helped the rest of the local media catch up with us in the pursuit of Isaac Campbell. He's wanted in connection with the killing of his girlfriend Liya "Jessie" Lu.
Campbell, a former nursing student at PCC, and apparently a part-time instructor there is alleged to have killed Lu and stuffed her body in a trash can. He covered the body with kitty litter, according to sheriff's Lt. Gil Carrillo.
Then..

Man-Ling (or manling if you prefer) Williams will appear is court Wednesday a.m. for a third shot at arraignment on three charges of murder. Williams is accused of killing her husband and two small children inside their Rowland Heights apartment in early August.
Sadly enough for family members the araignment comes one day before what would have been Ian Williams' fourth birthday. The picture above is of Ian and his dad Neal.

We're getting two different stories from South Pasadena police about a series of burglaries taking place there over the past several weeks.
The first version of the story was published on our website Monday...
and picked up by CBS2 and Mary Beth McDade of KCAL9
Here's what we wrote:

SOUTH PASADENA - Two thefts of valuables at city residences reported over the weekend are part of what police are describing as a "rash of burglaries" over the last few weeks.
Cash and jewelery and other small valuables have been the only objects taken in any of the eight recent burglaries reported in the city, according to Corporal Craig Cooper of the South Pasadena Police Department.
"They are going for cash and carry items and ignoring larger items like laptops and cell phones," said Cooper.
He said that in all the cases the burglar entered through an unlocked door in the house.
The two weekend burglaries, which took place on Saturday, were reported on Milan Street and Marengo Street, according to Cooper.
Investigators suspect that the same person or people have been responsible for all the burglaries, said Cooper.

Here's a mug shot of Issac Campbell that will run in tomorrow's paper. It's was a part of the "Wanted"
graphic we ran Wednesday.

POST CHANGED thanks to anon commenter (I've got the Onion Field on my mind)

The District Attorney has filed charges against Issac Campbell of San Gabriel in the Liya Lu murder case.
Lu's body was discovered stuffed in a trash can in Arcadia. The Coroner's office is maintaining a hold on the case, but there is some interesting anonymous information posted over at LA Noir. (and my response)
One commenter at LA Noir wants to know why there is no coverage of the case.
After some thought I think its becase TV is too busy following OJ, Spector and Brittany.
And the TImes? well they are apparently doing something other than covering stories n their own backyard -- perhaps scratching their heads over circulation drops.

Maybe yesterday's letter writer had a point. There was a knockdown dragout at San Dimas High last night over (of all things) a girls vollyball game. I don't know who won the match. Not sure I care. Parents are up in arms over at Fred Robledo's blog, because he posted the photos. Some are saying its irresponsible to even talk about what happened. Really?
I'd say it's irresponsible to take a match sooo seriously that it leads to a fight.
Check out the guy in the yellow San Dimas shirt, seems like he's ready to go eh?

Prep Sports editor Fred Robledo gets some interesting mail He passed this along to me, thinking the writer might be more suited for true crime than prep sports.

Found this blog while surfing. Nice post and comments on the Liya "Jessie" Lu story.

Thanks to the anonymous poster who noticed Isaac Campbell had been booked in Alhambra on Sept. 6. We've updated the story on the web as a result of the tip.

ARCADIA — Sheriff’s Homicide detectives confirmed Tuesday that a body found in a Baldwin Avenue backyard is that of a missing San Gabriel woman.
A search is on for her boyfriend Issac Campbell, of San Gabriel, Sheriff’s Homicide detective Joe Sheehy said.
Liya Lu, 31, of San Gabriel was reported missing Aug. 11 after she was dropped off at a Campbell’s home in San Gabriel, Sheehy said.
Her body was discovered Saturday afternoon in a trash can at a home in the 1700 block of South Baldwin Avenue, in Arcadia.
Sheehy said there is no connection between the discovery and the murder of a woman whose body was found in a trash can floating in Legg Lake in South El Monte in January.
http://www.insidesocal.com/sgvcrime

No one's talking about the body found in Arcadia Saturday, except Arcadia police Lt. Larry Goodman, who told us Monday that the discovery may be linked to a San Gabriel missing person case from "a month ago."
The only person reported missing in San Gabriel a month ago happens to be 31-year-old Liya Lu. missing since Aug. 11.
The coroner still refuses to even release a gender on the find. "Security hold" they say.
Sheriff's homicide isn't talking.
Arcadia police aren't talking anymore.
San Gabriel PD, who so deperately played the local media in their search for Lu, have clammed up too....

Skeltal remains we're told. Found Sunday in the Angeles National Forest. MTK.

This is going to turn out to be an interesting story.
The coroner has the case on security hold, which means they won't even release a gender of the victim. My guess is that anyone who can put two and two together might link the find to this story.
There are very few instances where the coroner puts a case on security hold. It's usually done at the request of cops who need to keep very specific information close at hand. I can only think of two other times where a hold was put on cases. I've never run across one where they won't release the gender.

Sounds like O.J. Simpson was caught on tape at the Palace Station Casino the other night.
I've updated this link as of 3:24 PDT 9/17/07

The final add in the Greg Eversole murder case ....
Many commenters have hinted that the girl in this case discovered Greg's body and waited several hours before calling the police.
Sheriff's detectives Thursday she waited an hour before calling. In the meantime she called a friend and possibly some family members.
As for the pot house. There will be no prosecution. The farm was dismantled and deputies were unable to connect it to the girl.
End of Story.

Detectives confirmed Thursday that ballistics testing done on the gun Jason Burke used to commit suicide link the gun with the murder of Gregory Eversole on Aug. 15.
Case closed, investigators said.
But there are some questions we haven't answered here. I plan to post the final roundup here Friday morning.

Over at the Star-News prep sports blog Scott Galetti Talks Prep Sports, there's been some comment on the follow up story to the Deandre Netter murder that ran this past week.
Mainly the chatter consists of several anonymous coaches proclaiming that no matter happened between Coach Lopez( the brother of the suspected shooter in the Netter murder) and a player on the Temple City High School football team (A friend of Deandre's), everyone's happy.
Interesting chit-chat.

John "Daniel" Schirra, 22, who grew up in the SGV, met his demise in a San Francisco alley over Labor Day, according to published reports.
Schirra was found naked and stabbed to death in an alley. Police have no suspects in the case and few leads to go on, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Here's a photo provided to the Chronicle by the Schirra family.
San Francisco is in the middle of a crime wave that's causing a spike in violent crime - especially murder. The Chron details Schirra's case and a few others from Memorial Day here.

The man who thought he was Santa Claus got stuck with a $10,000 fine and two-year prison term Wednesday following his jam in West Covina chimney last month, officials said.
Marco Antonio Espinoza has to pay $10,000 to the homeowners whose chimney was ruined by firefighters attempting to extracate Espinoza.
When he got picked up, Espinoza told cops he was working on the home.
What tipped off the cops was resident Danny Ramos saying he heard someone yelling help me, help me!
These photos were kindly provided by the West Covina Fire Department.

Ace photog Leo Jarzomb can add this one to his memory bank. He shot this outside a home in Validna on Sept. 12 . Three were shot there; one is reported dead. Deputies were on the lookout for three suspects.

Jennifer McLain is reporting that one of the wounded in the La Puente shooting has died. We'll keep updating this through the afternoon.

Not many details available yet, but we are following a shooting this a.m. in La Puente. As many as three were reported wounded. This apparently happened very close to the Industry Hills resort. Near 309 S. Winton Avenue

Milk cartons abound with the faces of the missing, it's cliche. I saw a poster in a Corona gas station this morning digging for signs of hope in the search for a missing developmentally disabled person.
In a conversation with an El Monte Police detective this afternoon, I learned the story of Austin Jay Smith. He's been missing since 1993. There was a reward way back when, but nothing ever came of tips, investigations, etc. Anyway, EMPD is taking a third look at the case. We'll have more later.
In the meantime, if you have stories of missing persons, let us know, we'll begin collecting them here. If you have pictures, that will help too.

A parolee accused in last month’s shooting death of Ebony Huel outside a party in Pasadena pleaded not guilty today to a murder charge.
Johnl Dvon Reynolds, 20, remains jailed pending his next appearance in Pasadena Superior Court Sept. 26.
Reynolds is accused in the Aug. 17 murder of Huel, who was gunned down about 11 p.m. outside a party in a building in the 2000 block of Lincoln Avenue. The party venue has since been shut down.
Meanwhile, the Pasadena City Council spent much of Monday night debating ways to limit violence in the community.
The rest of us sane people focused on MNF.

We're getting reports about a Rowland Heights Middle School that's shut down this a.m.while deputies search for a man who fled a traffic stop. More to folo.

Kids went back to school in Temple City and for the first time in anyone's memory there, they are dealing with the aftermath of a drive-by shooting. Police suspect Deandre Netter was shot and killed by former classmates.
I think the most interesting element of this is how the tension has even filtered down on to the football team. During preseason drills, an assistant coach and student got into an argument over the shooting, What's even more interesting is how the school district has dealt with that element of the fallout.

No one killed. But just a few days after announcing nothing much happens in Baldwin Park, officials are attempting to sort out the details of a Sunday drive-by shooting. My guess is that if somebody did a study of drive-bys in Bolen Parque they'd find a high percentage of woundings and very few deaths.
Don't know if that's intentional or just a random fact.

There was speculation he'd run to Mexico, but Richard Daniel Rolon, 21, the Brown Authority gang member who is a suspect in the Aug. 10, 2007 murder of Maria Hicks in Pico Rivera, turned up in Oakland over the Labor Day holiday. He was promptly arrested and shipped back to LA County to face the music, officials said.
Hicks, 57, was fatally shot after she tried to stop a man she saw spray painting a wall at San Gabriel River Parkway and Woodford Street. Three suspects have previously been arrested.
There is no confirmation to the rumor that Rolon was trying to pass himself off as a Raider fan in anticipation of this week's game against Detroit.

The Pasadena Police Department's roundup of press releases leads with a note from Sept 5th describing two armed robberies and promising a link to video of at least one of the robberies.
For some reason the link isn't there... but here's the gist of the story: BTW ... I'm going to get the video.

Pasadena, CA - On Thursday, August 23, 2007, at approximately 7:20 a.m., a male suspect entered the Walgreen’s store located in the 600 block of N. Lake Avenue, a few minutes after the store opened for business. The suspect walked in and confronted the manager, store employees and customers at gunpoint. The suspect ordered the manager to open the safe and removed cash estimated in excess of $2,000.00. The sole suspect then bound everyone’s hands with zip ties and fled the store.
On Saturday, August 25, 2007 at approximately 10:00 a.m. a male suspect, matching the same description, entered the Cash America business located in the 1300 block of North Lake Avenue, minutes after it opened. The armed suspect demanded the lone clerk to open the safe. The clerk complied and gave the suspect over $8,000.00 that was in the safe. The suspect then bound the clerk’s hands and fled the store. The suspect in both cases is described as: Male possibly African American, 26 to 40 years old, 6’ to 6’1”, medium build, ski mask, and gloves. In the first case the suspect was wearing a large green down ski type jacket. In both cases the suspect is armed with what appears to be a large black semi-automatic hand gun. The suspect is considered armed and dangerous.

Thanks to Publius at the FCB for the heads up on this one.
An excerpt:

A criminal and gastronomical excursion into the San Gabriel Valley, Blood & Dumplings rolls through Alhambra, Temple City, Monterey Park, Rosemead and El Monte, revealing dozens of weird, forgotten crimes and oddities from the valley's past. Highlights include the lesbian couple whose bickering over spending cash resulted in one pumping the other full of downers until she died, the young bride who spent her wedding day buried under her parents' house, the battling neo-Nazis of El Monte, Phil Spector's spooky castle and the little bar where James Ellroy's murdered mother Jean had her last drink. The tour includes a selection of dumplings from one of the San Gabriel Valley's best Chinese restaurants.

An Alabama judge is accused of having prisoners called into chambers for a spanking.

School's back in session and already there's been a dorm room altercation in Tuscon, at the University of Arizona. One dead. One injured. Guess it was a real "Wild-cat" fight.
Here's a link to victim's myspace.com page.

So I'm making cop calls this a.m. and there's some interesting stuff out there, but nothing earth shattering. It seemed like just typical stuff. Countfeiter in Glendora, guy dies from injuries suffered last week, takeover robbery in West Covina.
Anyway, cops have this interesting way of apologizing for slow days. The range of apologies fascinates me.
Here's a top ten list of sorts: (hats off to AP and TR)

A guy who ran up a healthy tab at the 35er, but stiffed his bartender, got shanked by another patron who took offense, early Tuesday morning, according to the Pasadena Police.
The victim wasn't seriously injured, but was taken to HMH, the PD said.
I used to frequent the place, never had a problem ...of course, I'm an ok tipper.

Man-Ling (Or Manling if you prefer) Williams could get the death penalty for killing her husband and two small children.
Stats show that women are less likely to face special circumstance allegations, and much less likely to have the punishment handed out.

A man who stabbed his wife was shot and killed by Pasadena police Sunday near Summit and Painter. Brian Day