Baldwin Park: June 2008 Archives

Brian Day will have a great story in Sunday's paper about how investigators using DNA evidence caught up with a man who killed a Baldwin Park couple 22-years-ago as they slept:

From Brian's story, which we slugged COLDCASE:

Twenty-two years after a Baldwin Park couple was fatally stabbed by intruders as they slept in their bed, DNA left at the scene pointed to one of their killers.

Martin Talavera, 44, was convicted earlier this month of the stabbing deaths of Sylvester Flood, 74, and his fiance, Peggy Johnson, 61, in their home in the 4800 block of Elizabeth Street on Jan. 10, 1986*, said Deputy District Attorney Stefan Mrakich, who prosecuted the case in court.

Flood was pronounced dead at the scene, and Johnson died 14 months after the incident from injuries determined to be related to the attack, Mrakich said. Johnson was also raped her during the ordeal.

"It was just a horrific, brutal crime," Mrakich said, adding that Flood's face was filled with "that horrible gaze of fear" and his hands were still held up in front of him as if to defend himself against his attacker in crime scene photographs."

I'll have some crime scene photos posted up here Sunday.

*As you see I've changed the date from '96 to '86

Brian's story is now online. Here's a link.

I posted the first few paragraphs of the story up here as I was editing it Friday night. So there are some structural changes. See the comparison and the photos on the jump.

BALDWIN PARK -- A man was shot in the leg during a home invasion robbery Thursday, authorities said.
The incident occurred about 9:15 p.m. at a house in the 4000 block of Hornbrook Avenue, said Baldwin Park police Sgt. Doug Parnell.
A husband and wife in their 30s were in bed when two robbers, described as Latino men in their 40s wearing all black, cut through the screen of a sliding door and forced their way into the home, Parnell said.
One of the men was armed with a handgun, Parnell said, and they walked the victims around the house demanding to know where the money was kept.
The husband told the robbers his money was in the garage, but pressed a panic button on the way, Parnell said.
When the robbers ordered the man to shut it down, he told them he could only do so from the keypad in front of the home.
When the robbers escorted the man outside, he saw a neighbor and yelled to call 9-1-1, Parnell said.
One of the robbers shot the man in the leg and they both fled on foot, Parnell said.
The wounded man was treated at an area hospital and has since been released, he said.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Baldwin Park Police Department at (626) 960-1955.

The "shirtless and sweaty" Baldwin Park School Board member who was arrested on suspicion of felony vandalism and driving under the influence won't face charges -- just yet, according to a story by Tania Chatila.

Interestingly enough someone familiar with the case predicted this outcome about two weeks ago. That person told me that the family who originally called Baldwin Park's 911 won't testify that Corona was on their doorstep or that Corona broke their window. That person also said that the DAs office would have very little interest in prosecuting the case period.

Interestingly enough, police found Corona's School District issued cell phone on the doorstep of the vandalized home. I've been told that he admitted doing the vandalism but later recanted and said he didn't know where he was or how he got to the police station after his arrest. It seems like that would be enmough to prosecute...

There are also rumors about Corona's absence from several school board meetings and talk of other run-ins with local law enforcement.

Here's a snippet:

BALDWIN PARK - The District Attorney's office has declined to file criminal charges against school board member Sergio Corona, officials said.

Police say they intend to follow-up of the results of a toxicology report before resubmitting the case to the Los Angeles County District Attorney, Baldwin Park police Lt. Jospeh Cowan said.

The case stems from a May 22 arrest in which Corona was Tased by police after allegedly breaking the windows of a home. According to a police report, Corona admitted to having smoked methamphetamine and marijuana earlier in the night.

*The Leftovers blog details their conversation with Lt. Cowan of the Baldwin park PD, who doesn't want us to get a mug shot of Corona -- despite the fact we get mugs all the time... 

This just in:

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Another blast from the Tribune crime archives. This story was published Dec. 6, 1968.

TORCH DEATH

Youth Faces Murder Trial

A 19-year-old West Covina youth will go on trial for murder Feb 17. accused  of throwing a lighted match on the gasoline-soaked clothing of a customer last Aug. 25 at the filling station where he worked.

Presiding Judge Carlos N. Teran of Pomona Superior Court set the trial date this week for Frederick A. Steiner of 3526 Holt Ave.

Steiner is charged with murdering Kenneth Kinsley, 20 of 4702 N. Harlan Ave,

Prosecutors charge that Steiner squirted gasoline on Kinsley during an argument at the station at 3202 Baldwin Park Blvd., after Kinsley  refused to pay for two of three cans of transmission fluid. The first two leaked out of the car.

When Kinsley returned from washing in the station rest room and grabbed a tire iron, more argument erupted. About this point, Steiner allegedly threw the match on Kinsley, igniting his clothing.

The victim died five days later in County General Hospital of third and second degree burns on 60 percent of his body. He was married and the father of two children.

 

 

In Baldwin Park at least.

The gunfire continued Wednesday night when a car-to-car shooting was reported near the intersection of Nubia and Bleeker streets.

*Baldwin Park police officers sometimes forget to mention these crimes when we call, but that's why we have a scanner.

Oh, and the City Council? Well, Anthony Bejarano told me at a recent lunch meeting that the shootings, killings and other violent crimes occurring in Baldwin Park are a function of the socio-economic status of its residents...

In other words, poor people are more likely to commit crimes.

That of course doesnt' explain Phil Spector, OJ Simpson or the Kennedy and Skakel families ...

A homicide epidemic claimed the lives of three Baldwin Park High School students in the 2007-08 school year.

Yes, epidemic.

Consider the numbers. There are about 5,100 high school students attending various secondary schools in Baldwin Park.

Between September and June, bullets claimed the lives of three of those students. That translates to a homicide rate which is slightly less than Colombia's.

So what's going on?

"I really wish I knew," said Baldwin Park Unified School District Superintendent Mark Skvarna. "Factions are feuding with factions inside and outside the city. Somebody gets upset and this is the result."

Skvarna agreed the killing of Baldwin Park high schoolers is out of control.

"I would have considered one (homicide) an epidemic," Skvarna said. "I don't want to see our community go through that. The frustration level is off the scale."

Family members and friends identified the most recent victim as 16-year-old Ruben Chavera, a student at the Opportunities for Learning Charter School in Baldwin Park. He had previously attended Sierra Vista High School.

This school-year gun violence also claimed the life of Jose Perez, a 16-year-old Baldwin Park High School student who was shot to death outside a home in the 5000 block of Maine Avenue on May 3.

And, in November, Baldwin Park High student Luis Estrada, 14, and his father, Pedro, were gunned down by four attackers in front

of their home in the 4000 block of Downing Avenue.

Three teens, all former Baldwin Park students, have been arrested in the Estrada case, officials said. A fourth remains at large.

Gang rivalry apparently motivated all the slayings, authorities said.

Baldwin Park recently hired a new police chief - ostensibly to deal with problems like this. New police Chief Lili Hadsell sent phone calls seeking comment for this story to a spokesman.

Baldwin Park police Lt. David Reynoso, Hadsell's flack, said the city's doing everything it can to cut into the gangs that seemingly rule the night these days.

"We've had extra enforcement, the gang units have doubled," Reynoso said. "There's more officers on the street working toward identifying the people behind these crimes; specifically the murders. But we can't be everywhere."

If Hadsell returned my call, she might say that crime stats are a difficult thing to get a handle on anyway, especially when it comes to homicide.

Look at Pasadena this year. No homicides.

By contrast in 2007, the city counted four homicides between January and June.

Community activists and city officials described the downturn in 2008 as a hopeful sign. Pasadena's acting police Chief Christopher Vicino claimed solid police work was largely responsible.

But what if it was something else?

Consider this: On March 25, three men were shot at on North Fair Oaks Avenue near Washington Boulevard in Pasadena. The men were apparently targeted for "no reason at all."

What if they had been hit? What if they had been killed?

Thankfully they weren't. For now, Pasadena smells like roses.

Baldwin Park on the other hand ...

Detective said Sunday that the 16-year-old Baldwin Park boy killed in a drive-by shooting Saturday afternoon was related to a man and woman targeted in a fatal car-to-car shooting last month.

Ruben Chavera, who died at the scene of Saturday's shooting on Illinois Street near Idaho Street, is the cousin of 22-year-old Richard Pope, who died as the result of a May 20 shooting only a block away at the intersection of Ramona Boulevard and Merced Avenue, a homicide detective said.

Chavera's sister was also inside the car when Pope was fatally shot, but was not seriously injured, officials said.

Investigators believe there's a good chance the two shootings are related.

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This from reporter Fred Ortega's story in Sunday's newspaper:

BALDWIN PARK - A spree of violence culminated in the drive-by shooting death of a Baldwin Park teenager in broad daylight Saturday.
The shooting victim, described as a 16-year-old Latino boy, was walking eastbound on Illinois Street between Kenmore Avenue and Idaho Street about 3:47 p.m. when a black, 1980s model sedan drove up and its occupants opened fire, said Los Angeles sheriff's Homicide Detective Jonas Shipe.
"He was struck multiple times and died at the scene," said Shipe, who refused to identify the victim until detectives spoke to his next of kin.
"It was a straight-up gang thing," said Shipe, adding the dead teen was affiliated with a gang.
The victim, who was identified by residents as Ruben Chavira, had been on his way to visit his girlfriend at her home in the 3800 block of Idaho Street when he was shot, said the girlfriend's sister, Veronica Martinez.
"He was a nice guy - I don't think he was involved with gangs," said Martinez, 27. "My sister knew him since fifth grade (at Kenmore Elementary School)."

Two shots to the chest killed a teenager this afternoon on Ohio Street in Baldwin Park. Few details are available. The killing follows night of violence that saw a robbery and two assaults throughout the town.

It's unclear if the shooting is related to a stabbing that occurred early Saturday morning at the Circle K.

Two males with shaved head in a dark sedan were reported leaving the scene.

*Regarding the first comment below: In case you didn't know 187 is the California Penal Code section defining the crime of homicide. In the categories section of the blog I list several such penal code sections like 187, including 211 for armed robbery and 245 for assault with a deadly weapon.

Hope that clears the confusion.

 

Two guys used a handgun to rob a Pizza delivery man, One neighbor bashed another neighbor's head with a baseball bat, and a teen was stabbed in a parking lot. We're working on putting the details together.

It all happened in Baldwin Park late Friday and early Saturday .... we'll have it all rounded up in Sunday's paper.

David Gunderson, a former Baldwin Park patrol cop who moved on to Adelanto then Blue Lake, where he became chief, is the subject of an LA Times story that paints an interesting picture of his ongoing legal troubles:

The Blue Lake police force was armed on a par with a big-city SWAT team. And no Blue Lakers knew until Police Chief David Gundersen's life began to very publicly unravel.

In February, Humboldt County sheriff's deputies arrested Gundersen on suspicion of crimes in his own bedroom.

Prosecutors have charged him with 33 counts, alleging that the chief repeatedly drugged his wife, a Blue Lake police sergeant, and forced her to have sex.

As investigators dug deeper into his private life, they discovered Gundersen's guns.

At home, he had a weapons cache that included a machine gun and a James Bond-style pistol with a silencer, both unregistered.

At police headquarters, he had enough weaponry to arm a small platoon.

Gundersen, 53, advertised his love of guns on a MySpace page for "Gundy Bros," with a photo of a machine gun, the words "LIVE, LAUGH . . . LOVE" and the offer of "Weapon Systems/Sales and Services." In all, investigators seized 111 weapons -- nearly a quarter of them from his home.

Crime Scene made a short mention of Gundersen back in March. Up in Eureka, the Times-Standard (where this picture originally appeared) has kept on top of the story. meanwhile, I'm still trying to find Baldwin Park officers who remember Gundersen...

 

The World Wrestling Entertainment's Get R.E.A.L. program brought WWE Diva Eve Torres, (pictured here) and superstar Elijah Burke to Santa Fe School in Baldwin Park on Tuesday, June 3, 2008. (SGVN/Staff Photo by Raul Roa/SVCity).

But, it was really WWE owner Vincent Kennedy McMahon making all the news Tuesday, announcing a $1 million giveaway to fans of Monday Night RAW.

From the Associated Press:

"People can view this as my own version of an economic stimulus plan to benefit our viewers," McMahon told the AP.