Recently in San Gabriel Category

Most press releases that make thier way to my inbox, find their way to the round file. But not this one. It's time to celebrate in the SGV, because "The Boat" is coming back:

San Gabriel, CA, Nov. 6, 2008 - Look for the new, expanded Clearman's
Galley on Rosemead Boulevard in San Gabriel just south of its popular sister
restaurant, The Northwoods Inn, to open the first week of December.

The Galley's new incarnation has doubled to 8,500 square
feet and will accommodate nearly 300 diners. The enlarged outside patio
will seat up to 90 guests. An expanded full bar with seating for nearly 30
guests will offer a complete choice of libations, including nearly two dozen beer
labels.

Looks like it was another busy weekend for law enforcement with violent acts reported throughout the region.

HACIENDA HEIGHTS -- A man's body was discovered in a residential driveway Sunday with apparent gunshot wounds, authorities said.

EL MONTE -- A man stabbed to death in a motel room over the weekend was bound and gagged when a maid found his body, according to a motel employee.

SAN GABRIEL -- A man was hospitalized with serious injuries Saturday after he was stabbed at a shopping center, authorities said.

PICO RIVERA -- Gunfire ended a Halloween party in Pico Rivera Saturday, leaving one person wounded and at least one suspect on the run, a sheriff's sergeant said.

A San Gabriel woman facing foreclosure because of a second mortgage has threatened to chain herself inside a bank this morning in protest of the bailout plan and the bank's unwilllingness to help her out of a jam. Here's an early version of the story we have just posted:

SAN GABRIEL - Facing foreclosure on her home, a woman has vowed to handcuff herself inside a Wachovia bank branch in San Gabriel to protest what she says is the bank's unwillingness to listen to her.

Irene Garcia claims Wachovia defrauded her on loan documents. She says her efforts to get the bank to look into her complaints have been to no avail. Legal Aid and other groups she's turned to for help have also brushed her off, Garcia claims.

"We tried everythng -- no one wants to listen to us. We're losing our home, and nobody seems to care."

Efforts are being made to contact Wachovia officials for comment on Garcia's claims.

For most of last week, I was second guessing myself. Did the bones I'd seen at the Coroner's consist of more than the top portion of a skull?

Those bones are likely all that remains of John Sohus. The used to reside in the basement office of Steve Dowell, a tool mark expert who examines such things over at 1104 North Mission Road.

Mystery man Clark Rockefeller is a person of interest in the disappearance of Sohus and his wife Linda. And, Sheriff's homicide detectives would like to talk to him about the bones and a possible murder at the Sohus home on Lorain Road in San Marino.

I read in the Boston Herald that when the skeleton was recovered it had been trisected and placed into three plastic bags before burial. That's when the second guessing started. Surely if that was the case there would be more than a few pieces of skull.

Fortunately, my memory was validated by Dowell and Coroner's assistant Chief Ed Winter who assured me that those pieces are all that's left. There's no jaw and no teeth --- thus no easy identification. Because John Sohus was adopted getting a DNA match will be difficult as well.

Winter said the rest of the remains were likely cremated several years ago to make room for other remains. In a place that handles 10,000 bodies a year, it's not a unreasonable conclusion.

But what of the plastic bags? Of the fiberboard box or any clothes the skeleton may have had...still no answer there. Sheriff's Lt. Paul Becker said his detectives are searching for that evidence.

Coroner's officials are also attempting to piece together the archived file that contains an autopsy report and other findings from the scene, Winter said.

Needless to say there's still a lot of this tale left to tell.    

I took a small break from blogging here over the past couple of days. I must say it was refreshing. I haven' t even used a computer since Thursday.

AND, I stayed away from newspapers, television news, conversations about politics and ...you get the picture.

Unfortunately there was little time to relax. I went to a father's day party in my son's kindergarden class; got a cracked molar crowned (temporarily); attended a niece's graduation party; dropped my Mother-in-law off at the Mission for a jubilee Mass; took my boys to Urban Outfitters in Old Pas; played gigs with my band Saturday night and Sunday morning; barbecued Sunday night; watched the Lakers; Watched the US Open playoff today...Whew

It's nice to be back.....

An unidentified man (left) confronts a man identified as Jaime Elvis Elizondo, 33, of San Gabriel in the children's section of Border's Bookstore at Santa Anita Mall last Saturday.

Elizondo, a registered sex offender, is accused of molesting a young girl inside the store.

A seven-minute video tape of the incident shows the man identifed as Elizondo approaching the girl several times.

Wearing a red shirt, the suspect walks by, walks away and walks by again before appearing to kneel down next to the girl.

The suspect goes unnoticed for several seconds before the onlooker confronts him and chases him from the bookstore.

Here's a segment from today's story on the incident:

Elizondo is suspected of "touching his exposed genitals up against a young female child" in a Borders bookstore at Westfield Santa Anita, 400 S. Baldwin Ave., on Saturday, according to Arcadia police Lt. Ron Buckholtz.

A 32-year-old Temple City man confronted the suspect and he fled, but the man was able to later identify the suspect from a Web site listing convicted predators, police said.

The man turned over the information to Arcadia police detectives, who were able to show it to other witnesses and confirm the suspect's identity, Foley said.

"Kudos to the gentleman for taking the time not only to intervene, but to follow up on his own," Foley said. "It led to a quick arrest."

 

This comes from the Arcadia Police Officer's Association blog. Just happened to notice it a few minutes ago:

A San Gabriel man was arrested today for Lewd Acts with a child after follow-up by APD Detectives. The suspect allegedly stalked and molested a young girl who was in the children's area of the Border's Book Store, Westfield Shopping Town, during the morning hours of Saturday, May 17th. A witness rushed to the aid of the young girl, knocking the suspect away. The suspect fled on foot but the crime was caught on video tape.

Unlucky for this predator, a quick thinking witness turned to the internet and helped bring the suspect's identity to the forefront by locating him through a registrant database. Detectives conducted the follow-up and arrested 33 year old Jaime Elvis Elizondo without incident. Elizondo was booked at APD on one count of PC 288(a).

The state's Megan's law database indicates Elizondo lived on Sunset in San Gabriel. He has at least one prior for the same offense according to the state

A teen-aged student at Gabrielino High School in San Gabriel has died as the result of a drug overdose, officials said.

The student, identified only as a 16 or 17-year-old female, was found by officers at 3:14 a.m. Sunday in the 200 block of South Pine Street in San Gabriel.

San Gabriel PD Lt. Joe Lara declined Tuesday to release more information about the death.

Last week in this spot I wrote about some wonderful historical pictures.

Many of the shots can be found on the Web either through the Los Angeles Public Library, UCLA or at fototeka.com, an art site devoted to ancient LAPD crime scene photos.

There's a reason I'm writing about these photos again this week: I made a mistake describing my favorite one of the bunch.

The picture in question, shot in 1921, depicts a funeral procession for a 106-year-old man. Santo Juncio's casket is being escorted just beyond the walls of an unrestored San Gabriel Mission.

A group of cars is parked alongside a dirt path next to the mission. I described the cars as Model A's.

They were, in fact, Model T's.

Almost 100 years later, that doesn't seem like a huge distinction. But to several of you who called, wrote and e-mailed me it was a glaring error.

Here's an example, written by Bill Ruh of Montclair:

"The Ford Model A was not around in 1921. Ford did(n't) produce the Model A until late 1927. The cars had to be the Ford Model T. The Model T speaks even more volumes about the photo - the first mass-production motor car along the final road of a man who was born when all humans relied on horses."

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Thanks, Bill.

A couple others were less complimentary. And, quite honestly, I should know better.

In case you didn't know, or if I haven't  said so before, I was born in Detroit and have lived most of my life on the Los Angeles freeway system.

By default, the American automotive industry is in my blood, and I should know the entire history of Henry Ford, assembly lines and how the Model T's DNA runs through the cars we drive today.

So, excuse the mistake. By the way, there's a great Detroit photo Web site called "Ruins of Detroit." Take a look; you'll be glad you live here.

Since we are on the subject of these wonderful archives, I can take the time to point out a few other Los Angeles-area photos that are quite interesting.

This past week has been filled with talk about the possibility of billionaire developer Ed Roski Jr. bringing professional football back to Los Angeles by building a stadium in Industry.

A search of "pro football" in the public library archive went as far back as 1927.

None of them mention Industry, but there is a great 1944 photo of a guy named Roy

"Bullet" Baker, a USC left halfback who racked up 107 yards in the 1923 Rose Bowl - the first played in the "new" stadium.

Roski's proposed stadium will be built where the 57 and the 60 freeways come together. A search of the library archive for "Pomona Freeway" revealed a 1969 shot titled "Pomona Freeway Mudslide."

Here's the caption:

"Mudslide covering all eastbound and two of the westbound lanes of the Pomona Freeway, 2 1/2 miles east of Pico Rivera."

What's fascinating about the shot is that there is a car atop the massive pile of mud. The car has obviously been pushed from the fast lane into oncoming traffic.

I tried hard to figure out the make and model of the car, but no such luck.

One thing for certain: it's not a Model T.

Yesterday I created a mirror site, in case of problems during our move to larger and better servers. It requires posting to both sites and hoping there's some kind of synchronization. I must admit I haven't done a complete job of it.

There are posts on the mirror site that aren't here and vice versa.

Here's a link to the mirror site.

As for the missing posts from this site, there are two. The first is titled "Girl pleads guilty to manslaughter, evading and street racing."

Here's an outtake:

A 17-year-old girl pled guilty Monday to several charges stemming from a collision that killed Angela Chung, 19, of Temple City.
Here's an excerpt from Dan Abendschein's online piece:

PASADENA - A 17-year-old girl pleaded guilty on Monday to four felony counts in a street racing case that killed a 19-year-old student from Temple City.
The girl, whose name was not released because of her age, was convicted in juvenile court. She will serve three months in a county probation department camp, and will have to pay restitution to the victim's family.

The second is a follow to the El Monte Homicide from the weekend. Again an excerpt:

The victim lived in a trailer (not apparently visible on Google Earth). Left no fingerprint of his existence as far as public records and was apparently arrested three times in recent months by El Monte and Baldwin Park police, according to the Los Angeles County's Sheriff's Inmate Locator.

The guy also has a lengthy rap sheet for drug possession, car thievery and spousal abuse. Motive anyone?

Here's our story for (Tuesday's) paper:

EL MONTE — Detectives are continuing to investigate the death of a 33-year-old man found shot inside a trailer late Saturday.

Jack Edward Hicks’ body was discovered shortly before midnight in the 5200 block of Cogswell Road, said Los Angeles County sheriff’s Deputy Denise Fuchs.

The body was found inside a trailer next to a back house where Hicks had been staying, said Detective Gil Carrillo of the Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau.

An archive of old LAPD photographs recently found its way online. The black and whites add to a rich photographic history of our region that is slowly finding its way on to the Internet.

For example, last year UCLA put up nearly 3 million old newspaper photos. The Los Angeles Public Library has a pretty extensive collection of old newspaper shots as well as private photos. It's been online since at least 2004 and continues to grow.

What's interesting about browsing these collections is the first-hand look at the rich history they offer.

For example, in the Los Angeles Public Library archive there is a shot from about the 1920s labeled "The Tamale." I found it by searching for Whittier. Here's a description:

"Exterior view of The Tamale, a restaurant specializing in hispanic (sic) foods. Building was built in the shape of a tamale. Located at 6421 Whittier Boulevard."

In the picture, it appears as if there are no other buildings in the neighborhood. The Tamale stands alone against a background of dirt lots and shade trees.

Here's where the fun part comes in. When you search Google for the address, you can actually see a "Street View" of the location.

And, guess what? The Tamale, which was a lunch counter way back when, is still there.

It's called Charley's. It's now a beauty salon.

In the UCLA archive there's a photo taken in 1921 of a funeral procession outside the San Gabriel Mission. The photo  strikes me for several reasons. First of all the Mission is completely unrestored, so it's probably the original construction we see.

Here's the caption: "Funeral cortege of Santo Juncio, leaving San Gabriel Mission yesterday. Chief Youngturtle of the Chickasaw tribe (in the headdress) is leading the native pallbearers carrying the coffin of the 106-year-old man."

The photo amazes me. Catholic priests in full regalia lead a procession of sandal wearing Native Americans outside the unrestored mission.

Just think, in 1921 Santo Juncio, at 106, would have been born in 1815; before California was a state; before the Civil War; before autos or planes.

As if highlighting the dichotomy of that amazing life, a group of Model-A Fords are parked right up alongside a dirt path that separates the primitive adobe mission from a parking lot.

Hoping for some of the same Google magic I had with the Tamale, I was a little disappointed by the "Street View" of the mission.

The 1921 newspaper photo shows several eucalyptus trees surrounding the church. I couldn't find them looking through Google. It seems as if they've all been replaced with palm trees.

Obviously, the extensive restoration of the 1980s and 1990s probably obliterated much of the historical sense of the place where Los Angeles was born.

I could go on and on about some of the interesting photographs I've found and the stories they tell, but I don't have the time - or the space. I will post links to the galleries and some of the photos from today's column on the Crime Scene blog.

Until then if you want to see a sample of the LAPD photos, which cover a period from the mid-1920s until the 1960s, they can be found at http://www.fototeka.com

Arraignment for Isaac Campbell, 32, accused of killing his girlfriend Liya "Jessie" Lu, ,31,  then stuffing her body in a trash can filled with kitty litter was postponed again Tuesday, officials said.

Apparently the Los Angeles Department of Coroner is having a difficult time determining the cause of Lu's death, and therefore Campbell cannot be arraigned, according to officials who spoke to Pasadena Star-News reporter Fred Ortega at the Alhambra courthouse. The arraignment was continued until the end of next month, officials said.

Students at PCC, where Lu was a nursing student have been folowing the case via the PCC Courier, which carried this report by Franco Sui Yuan:

One time PCC student Isaac Campbell, suspected in slaying former PCC student Liya Jessie Lu, will make a new appearance on court, after his arraignment was postponed today at the Alhambra Courthouse.

Superior Court Judge Carlos Uranga postponed the arraignment to May 6 due to the tardiness in receiving the Coroner’s report.

The report contains the information of Lu’s cause of death.

“We still don’t have a copy of the [Coroner’s] report,” said Deputy District Attorney and Prosecutor Steve Ipson. “Hopefully it will be available soon.”

Campbell spent several weeks on the lam in connection with the Aug. 11 disappearance and death of Lu before he was captured in Minneapolis in September.

Lu had been reported missing on Aug. 11 after she was dropped off at Campbell's apartment in San Gabriel, authorities said. Her car, a Mazda Miata, was also reported missing.

The car was recovered in the same Arcadia back yard where Lu's body was found, according to a friend of the homeowner who asked to remain anonymous.

Just prior to Campbell's capture, detectives held a news conference asking for assistance locating him. Among the information released at the news conference were details that indicated Lu's body was covered with kitty litter after being stuffed in a 90-gallon plastic trash can.

That information combined with several Internet posts on this blog and Usenet newsgroups helped lead investigators to Campbell, Sheriff's homicide Lt. Gil Carrillo said.