missing: February 2008 Archives

So this 18-year-old Rio Hondo student goes missing. We write about it ... twice. Her parents are frantic.

Well, there's a happy ending of sorts. The full story, by reporter Tracy Garcia, will appear in tomorrow's paper. But, here's a small advance taste of a real Valentine's tale:

It was major drama earlier this month for 18-year-old Rio Hondo College student Crystal Domingues — her family reported her missing, then apparently hired a private detective who tracked her down. 

The detective found her... at the Irvine home of Rio Hondo professor Muata Kamdibe. Domingues was a former student of his, Kamdibe says, and Domingues and Kamdibe say they are in love. To prove it, they’re getting hitched this weekend in Vegas.

Good luck with the in-laws.

The letter was postmarked Feb. 2 in Manchester, New Hampshire and received about seven days later, D.A. Spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said Wednesday.

"It was a one-page typed letter," Gibbons said. "It was given to an investigator in the criminal division." Gibbons did not say what information the letter contains.

Jennifer Lopez Dejongh, 30, of Diamond Bar, has been missing with Miller's three grandchildren since November. In a 16-page handwritten letter sent to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Dejongh defended her actions. She said the three boys were safe and that she took them from what she called an abusive father.

That letter was postmarked February 2 from New Hampshire without a return address.

Investigators have searched for the family throughout the United States, initially believing they were in Las Vegas or Ogden, Utah, said Los Angeles County sheriff's Detective Mark Martinovich. They have also explored possibilities in Mexico and Canada, authorities said.

Also investigating the disappearance are the FBI and the U.S. Marshal's office.

The letter to the Tribune outlines Dejongh's side of a bitter custody dispute with Miller's son, Brian, who is the father of her children.

U.S. Rep. Miller said his son "is in misery over his kids."

Brian Miller has not commented on the case.

http://www.insidesocal.com/sgvcrime

KFI's John and Ken discussed the whole Jennifer Lopez Dejongh saga on their show yesterday. Whittier Daily News reporter Airan Scruby heard some of the show.

I haven't listened yet, but here's a link in case you are interested.

The letter has garnered interest from both the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and the West Covina FIeld Office of the FBI. Officials say the case against Lopez is still a state matter, but the Feds are involved because of their belief that Lopez Dejongh and her husband George Dejongh have crossed state lines with U.S. Rep Gary Miller's three grandchildren.

Anyway onto the column. Here it is:

It’s always exciting to get mail at work.

For one thing, you can almost always be sure that something with your name on it isn’t going to contain a bill.

On the other hand, there’s lots of junk that ultimately finds its way into the round file.

Last Thursday, I received a small, somewhat crumpled, white envelope addressed to me. The handwriting on the outside was block-printed. The smeared postmark over a pink 58-cent stamp appeared to say Manchester, New Hampshire.

“Oh great,” I thought, “Another nut who reads the Crime Scene Blog on the Internet with a tip about the murder of James Ellroy’s mother.”

Back in early 1990s, I wrote a story about unsolved mysteries in the San Gabriel Valley. One of the mysteries involved Jean Ellroy, the mother of a young boy who would grow up to be author James Ellroy.

Jean Ellroy was last seen at the Desert Inn at Five Points in El Monte. Her partially nude body turned up the next morning dumped in an alleyway behind Arroyo High School. She had been strangled with her bra. The killing remains unsolved.

The article turned out to be inspiration for James, already respected for his L.A. Quartet, which included the “Black Dahlia” and “L.A. Confidential.”

Ellroy convinced the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to reopen its investigation into the case. He turned the investigation into one of the most powerful pieces of nonfiction ever written, “My Dark Places.”

Anyway, that was on my mind as I turned to my boss, Ed Barrera, and showed him the envelope.
“What do you think it is?” I asked rhetorically, as I ripped the envelope open.

I pulled out a mass of folded papers, unfurled them and read the first lines:

“Dear Frank, My name is Jennifer Lopez Dejongh. Mother of Brian Christopher, Christian and Evan Miller.”
Then and there I realized I was holding a piece of news.

Dejongh’s three children happen to be the grandchildren of U.S. Rep. Gary Miller, R-Brea. They’ve been missing since November. In the letter, Dejongh admits taking the kids after losing a round in a bitter custody dispute between her and Brian Miller, the congressman’s son.

The letter indicates the kids are “safe and happy.” It also lists some of the unseemly details at the heart of the dispute.

“I didn’t leave to be selfish. I left to protect the boys,” Dejongh writes. “I’m not trying to get even with anyone.”

After I got Jennifer’s letter, I spoke with her father, Jude Lopez. He seemed to be shaking as he read the letter, and confirmed it was written by his daughter.

Lopez said he warned his daughter that if she ran, he wouldn’t shield her from authorities.

I also spoke to the congressman. He said his son has been in agony over the disappearance of the children.

The children’s pictures are all over the Internet thanks to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Major Crimes Bureau, the U.S. Marshal’s Office and the FBI are all involved in the investigation.

Also following the case is the National Organization for Women’s California chapter. Their spokeswoman sent an e-mail Sunday evening after reading about Jennifer’s letter.

“There is so much to this story that has not been reported,” wrote NOW spokeswoman Rachel Allen. “I’m sure there is more in the 16 pages Jennifer wrote that is deserving of verifying and reporting.”

For now, Detective Mark Martinovich, with the Major Crimes Bureau, said he believes the children are safe with their mother.

“We’ve never felt the children were in physical danger,” he said last week.

He also said he wanted to read the letter.

Which is exactly how I felt when I opened my mail Thursday.

Going through my mail Thursday morning I came across a small envelope, with a smeared postmark that appeared to have been stuffed with a large letter. I opened it, read the first line and knew that we a story on our hands.

The 16-page hand-written letter was signed Jennifer Lopez Dejongh. It detailed her side of a bitter custody feud with Brian Miller, the son of U.S. Rep. Gary Miller. When the court decided in November to hand Dejongh's three boys over to the Miller family for 90 days, Dejongh fled.

Her letter said there was no choice.

The story appears in today's newspaper. Here's an excerpt:

In a letter postmarked from New Hampshire, the mother of three missing grandsons of a local congressman says the boys are safe and justifies her actions as necessary to save the boys from an abusive father.

"I am a mother trying to protect her children," Jennifer Lopez Dejongh wrote toward the end of the 16-page letter, written in longhand and postmarked Feb. 2 in Manchester, N.H., without a return address. "If you speak to my father, tell him we're safe and happy."

Dejongh, 30, and her children, Brian, 8, and twins Christian and Evan, 6, disappeared Nov. 19 in defiance of a court order to turn over the children to Rep. Gary Miller, R-Diamond Bar, and his wife Cathy. Her husband George Dejongh is also missing. The couple wed in July.

On Friday, Jude Lopez, Jennifer's father, reviewed the letter and confirmed the writing as that of his daughter. Lopez said he has had no contact with her since the disappearance.

"I told her, `If you go away, you can't call me,"' Lopez said. "I'm not going to get involved. I'm going to call the police."

The letter outlines Jennifer Dejongh's side of a bitter custody dispute with Brian Miller, the congressman's son, and ...

The rest is here.

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4:55p.m. UPDATE Missing man identified as Frank Wykofka, 60, a Vietnam veteran.

A car has been pulled from the reservior and a body recovered.

SAN DIMAS -- A sheriff's underwater search and rescue team continued to search the murky waters of San Dimas Reservior Thursday for a man reported missing earlier in the day, officials said.

Family members reported the man missing at 11 a.m. when he failed to return from a trip to the Angeles National Forest. Officials believe the man had gone to the forest to release a feral skunk.

Divers apparently have located a car in murky waters of the San Dimas reservoir. They have also found other evidence consistent with a car accident at a paticularly dangerous curve on San Dimas Canyon Road, officials said.

The search is underway at the dam

The man's name has not been released.

http://www.insidesocal.com/sgvcrime