PASADENA — Detectives Tuesday arrested a man and woman in connection with a 1997 cold case slaying in Altadena believed to have stemmed from a dispute over CDs.
Blood gang member Darryl Lamont Johnson, also known as Darryl Callum, 38, of Pasadena, was once linked to the infamous 1993 Halloween Homicides, Detective Michael Rodriguez of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Homicide Bureau Cold Case Unit said.
Also arrested Tuesday was Dominique Raquel Evans, 41, of Pasadena. She was also described as a Blood gang affiliate.
The two are accused in the 1997 shooting death of Johnis Jackson, 18, of Altadena at Fair Oaks Avenue and Harriet Street, the detective said.
“After all these years, it was something that I always wanted. I’ve wanted that closure part,” Jackson’s mother, Vivian Knox said. “Now that that’ve made an arrest, I don’t believe it. I’m thrilled. It’s an awesome thing.”
“I think it gave everyone in the family a big sense of relief, even though it won’t bring him back,” she said.
Johnson was also once expected to testify as a witness, but ultimately refused, in the case of the fatal 1993 Halloween shooting that left three boys dead.
Investigators Rodriguez and Gary Sica described Jackson’s 1997 slaying as senseless and cowardly.
“We believe that the murder all stemmed from a disagreement regarding some possible stolen CDs,” Rodriguez said.
Johnson and Evans were arrested hours after detectives secured charges against the suspects and obtained a warrant for their arrests, Rodriguez said. They were expected to be arraigned Wednesday in Pasadena Superior Court.
Johnson and Evans were boyfriend and girlfriend at the time of the early morning June 21, 1997, slaying of Johnis Jackson at Fair Oaks Avenue and Harriet Street, the detective said. Their currently relationship was unclear, though they have children together.
Jackson was a member of a the Crips gang in Altadena, investigators said.
After attending at a party, he was congregating with some other gang affiliates at Loma Alta park in Altadena, Rodriguez said. An argument broke out between one of Jackson’s gang affiliates and a woman at the park, who detectives identified Wednesday as Evans.
Evans accused Jackson’s gang-affiliate of stealing CDs, and the man slapped her, Rodriguez said.
After making threats, Evans left the park, he said. She was accompanied by several other women.
Jackson tried to calm the situation, and even offered to by the angry woman new CDS to replae the ones she claimed were missing, Rodriguez said.
But less than half an hour later, Jackson was shot to death at Fair Oaks Avenue and Harriet Street as he was walking to his car with another young man, officials said.
“Just to think that it was over something so petty. I don’t think that I could ever have that much hatred for anybody, no matter what the situation,” Knox said.
Though investigators had long had leads in the case, they were not previously able to obtain a criminal filing, Rodriguez said.
As the investigation has continued through the years, “We had several people have come forward,” he said. “Their accounts of the incident implicating both Evans and (Johnson) were corroborated.”
Following more than 15 years of investigation, detectives Tuesday secured charges against Johnson and Evans and obtained warrants for their arrests, Rodriguez said. They were taken into custody later in the day during separate traffic stops in Pasadena.
Long before he allegedly shot and killed Jackson in 1997, Johnson played a significant role in one of Pasadena’s most notorious homicide cases: the fatal shooting of two 14-year-old boys and a 13-year-old boy in the 500 block of North Wilson Avenue on Halloween night.
Johnson implicated a man named Aurelius Duane Bailey in the Halloween slayings before a grand jury and in interviews with Pasadena police detectives, however those statements were not admissible as evidence in court.
Johnson was later arrested in September of 2002 while driving a stolen truck in Duarte with Aurelius Duane Bailey, who was sentenced to five years of probation after pleading no contest to three counts of voluntary manslaughter and five counts of attempted murder for his role in the Halloween slayings.
The Halloween homicide, along with Jackson’s slaying and other violent incidents of the 1990s, helped spur the formation of the federally funded Community Law Enforcement and Recovery program, known as CLEAR, to combat gang violence in the Pasadena and Altadena areas.
Johnson was ultimately sentenced to six months in jail and five years of probation after pleading no contest to the truck theft. Bailey received a six year prison sentence due to his previous criminal record.
According to county booking records, Johnson was being held in lieu of $2 million bail, while Evans was being held in lieu of $1.5 million.
Knox said she hopes her son’s story will give strength to other families still waiting for answers in the slayings of their loved ones.
“I think the best part about it is it sends a message out to a lot of other people and gives them hope, too,” she said. “I have faith that everything’s going to be like it should. One day at a time.”
PHOTOS of Darryl Jackson and Dominique Evans courtesy of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
