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Hector Valdez, 18

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Hector Valdez, an 18-year-old Latino, was shot and killed Tuesday, Feb. 25, near Remick Avenue and Hoyt Street in Pacoima, according to Los Angeles County coroner's records.

Valdez and a friend were walking in a residential neighborhood about 7:45 p.m. when they passed a group of males, said LAPD Det. Anthony Stephenson.

One of the people in the group pulled out a gun and fired shots in the direction of Valdez and his friend, Stephenson said. Valdez ran away and collapsed down the street. A passerby drove Valdez and the uninjured friend to the hospital.

Valdez was pronounced dead at 8 p.m., said Ed Winter, a coroner’s spokesman.

Police are seeking witnesses and following up leads, Stephenson said.

Anyone with information can call LAPD Foothill Division detectives at (818) 834-3115. Those who wish to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477.

-- Nicole Santa Cruz


Man who killed girlfriend with hammer gets 26 years to life in prison

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A San Pedro man with a history of abusing women was sentenced this week to 26 years to life in prison for killing his girlfriend with a hammer, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

Donald Lee Bush Jr., 55, was found guilty on Jan. 14 of first-degree murder, including the allegation that he used a hammer to kill Dana Milo, 59.

He was sentenced Monday, according to the district attorney's office.

During the trial, witnesses testified that Bush had a history of abusing women. A jury deliberated for a little more than three hours.

-- Samantha Schaefer

Charges announced in killings of 7-year-old, 17-year-old

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Authorities on Tuesday announced charges in two killings, including the fatal shooting in December of a 7-year-old boy in Mid-City.

Charles Adam Hall, 17, was killed Sept. 1 in a drive-by shooting in Mid-Wilshire. Police said a gun was fired at Charles from a white four-door sedan in the 1400 block of South Redondo Boulevard.  On Dec. 2, Taalib Pecantte, 7, was a passenger in a car along with his mother and a man, when he was fatally shot about two miles away from the first killing.

The two shootings were linked to an ongoing gang feud, said LAPD Det. Steven Katz.

Four black men, including two brothers, Tradel Billy Faniel, 28, and Windel Roman Faniel, 26, were charged with murder and attempted murder in connection with Taalib's killing, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

Paul Eugene Jamar, 19, and Danielle Peters, 31, were also charged with murder and attempted murder, according to the criminal complaint.

“They’re all associates,” Katz said of the defendants, who were arrested Feb. 20.

Tradel Faniel was also charged with murder in the killing of Charles, along with three additional counts of attempted murder, according to the complaint. Katz said that the investigation is ongoing, and it is unknown whether the man acted alone or with others.

Authorities announced a $50,000 reward leading to the arrest and conviction of the people responsible for Taalib's death. The Game, a rapper, raised $17,000 for the boy’s funeral and also called on gang members to leave guns at home during the holiday season.

Katz said that it is too soon to know where the reward money will be distributed, but said that it was “helpful” in generating information in the case.

-- Nicole Santa Cruz

Mother hears gunshots, then detectives knocking on her door: Her son is dead

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The night Martha Tovar’s son was killed, she heard three loud pops shortly after 8 p.m. outside her one-bedroom apartment window in Pico-Union. She wondered to herself if the sounds were fireworks or gunshots.

About an hour later, she turned on the television and waited for her son to arrive home from work.

By 11:30 p.m. on Nov. 6, 2013, she assumed that he had gone out and would be home in the morning. She went to bed.

About 1 a.m., detectives knocked on her door.

Atilio Benavides-Amaya, 39, had been shot about a block away. She realized she had heard the shots.

“I felt bad; I felt like my heart burst because my son was gone,” she said. “But why? Why did they kill him? He never got involved with anyone. He was a humble worker.”

Benavides-Amaya typically rode the bus to and from his job as a clerk at a 99-cent store. That night, he had gotten off the bus and was on his way home when two men walked up and shot at him multiple times at close range, said Los Angeles police Det. Reynaldo Martinez.  The two men, described by witnesses as black and in their 20s or 30s, ran away from the scene and may have gotten into a dark SUV. 

On Wednesday, police and Los Angeles City Councilman Gil Cedillo announced a $50,000 reward for information in the killing.

Police also released surveillance stills of two men, one wearing a light-blue Aeropostale sweatshirt, seen in the area at the time of the killing.

“This young man came to this country seeking a better life, and unfortunately, he lost his,” Cedillo said.

Benavides-Amaya fled El Salvador in late 2010 to live with his mother in Pico-Union. His father died on his way to work in the Salvadoran civil war when Benavides-Amaya was a child. Benavides-Amaya, who liked to DJ at local clubs in his spare time, sent money home to El Salvador to support his 10-year-old child.

“He was not here very long; he was here too short of a time,” Tovar said.

Anyone with information can call LAPD Rampart Division detectives at (213) 484-3639. Those who wish to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477.

-- Nicole Santa Cruz and Adolfo Flores

Image: Police are searching for two men who were seen on surveillance video walking in Pico-Union near where Atilio Benavides-Amaya was killed Nov. 6, 2013. Credit: Los Angeles Police Department

Long Beach man sentenced in killing of neighbor

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A Long Beach man was sentenced Wednesday to state prison for killing his neighbor, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney's office.

Mark Stephen Thurwachter, 58, was sentence to 50 years and eight months to life and ordered to pay $3,098.38 in restitution.

Earlier this month, a jury found Thurwachter guilty of fatally shooting Marvin Williams.

Williams, 64, and Thurwachter were neighbors at Arbor Mobile Village in Long Beach. Initially, the two men were friendly, but Thurwachter came to believe that Williams had stolen money from him, the prosecutor said.

On the evening of Feb. 1, 2012, neighbors heard a shot and found Williams critically wounded in front of his home. He was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead.

Thurwachter, who never returned to his home, was eventually apprehended in Ohio.

-- Maloy Moore

Pomona man charged in January shooting

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A 26-year-old man from Pomona has been charged in the January killing of a man in Long Beach, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

Thearath Sam, an Asian man, was charged Feb. 25 with one count of murder and two counts of possession of a firearm by a felon, according to the criminal complaint.

Sam is suspected of fatally shooting Sambo Chhoy, 33, on Jan. 20. Chhoy was found by police in the street and died at a hospital.

Although authorities described Sam and Chhoy as suspected gang members, a personal dispute is believed to be the reason for the killing, according to a news release from the Long Beach Police Department.

Sam, who was convicted of vandalism in 2007, is due in court March 12 for an arraignment.

-- Nicole Santa Cruz

Man sentenced in fatal 2011 stabbing near Hollenbeck Park

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A 33-year-old man who was connected to a fatal stabbing through a trail of blood at the crime scene has been sentenced to 25 years to life in prison, prosecutors and police said.

Luis Larumbe, a Latino, was sentenced Feb. 27, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. He was convicted Feb. 3 of one count of first-degree murder with the allegation that he used a knife.

Larumbe was also sentenced to an extra year in prison for the knife allegation.

Victor Moreno, 40, was found dead July 12, 2011, near Hollenbeck Park in Boyle Heights. He had been stabbed more than 100 times, said Det. Jose Ramirez with the LAPD’s Hollenbeck Division.

Larumbe was connected to the stabbing through DNA evidence at the scene, prosecutors said.

“When he was stabbing the victim, he cut himself. And when he walked away, he left a trail of blood,” Ramirez said of Larumbe.

Moreno had defensive wounds to his arms and his hands, and was found by a person walking through the park.

The motive for the killing remains unclear, according to police and prosecutors. 

-- Nicole Santa Cruz

Soap opera pen-pal network may have led murder suspect to L.A.

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The Times' Joseph Serna reported details this week about the Hollywood strangling death of a retired teacher.

Harry Major, 82, who taught at Hollywood High School, and the man accused of killing him were pen pals. The suspect apparently had a network of pen pals that grew out of a "General Hospital" fan club.

Three months after he was released from prison after serving 20 years for murder, Scott Kratlian showed up in Hollywood and allegedly strangled one of his pen pals, 82-year-old Harry Major. ...

"I don't know why I started writing him; it was a really dumb decision," said [Jason] Ward, who connected with Kratlian through a mutual friend who received a "General Hospital" newsletter that went out to fans.

"I only wrote to him a handful of times because he got really weird," Ward said.

Authorities said Kratlian was released from prison two days before Thanksgiving, less than a year after a state parole board determined that his crime had been so horrific that releasing him would be to "undermine respect for the law."

In 1992 Kratlian used a belt to kill a man, tying the victim's hands and feet together and beating and burning him, parole board records show.

In prison, Kratlian had a "horrendous" disciplinary record, and his conditional early release was delayed more than four years because of infractions, according to the records. He was eventually released under the state's conditional release program — a separate avenue that doesn't require parole board approval.

A free man after two decades behind bars, Kratlian was in Los Angeles by Feb. 1, authorities say.

After months and possibly years of exchanging letters, detectives say, Kratlian went to Major's Hollywood apartment Feb. 10 and strangled him.

Serna has more details: Soap opera pen-pal network may have led murder suspect to L.A.

— From Times reports

Photo: Harry Major in an undated photo.


Rosbita Toledo Varsena, 39

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Rosbita Toledo Varsena, a 39-year-old Latina, died Saturday, March 1, after she was stabbed in the 7100 block of Coldwater Canyon Avenue in Valley Glen, according to Los Angeles County coroner’s records.

Family members found Varsena in a home and called police, said Ed Winter, the assistant chief of investigations for the coroner’s office.

Varsena was pronounced dead at 11:15 a.m., Winter said.

Detectives are looking for Herman Escobar Archila, described as a person of interest in Versena’s death.

Anyone with information can call LAPD North Hollywood detectives at (818) 623-4075. Those who wish to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477.

-- Samantha Schaefer

Enrique Rodriguez-Olmos, 46

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Enrique Rodriguez-Olmos a 46-year-old Latino, died Monday, March 3, after he was stabbed in the 4600 block of East Alondra Boulevard in Compton, according to Los Angeles County coroner’s records.

Rodriguez-Olmos got into a verbal fight with another man inside a bar that became physical, according to a news release from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. The two went outside and Rodriguez-Olmos was later found in the parking lot with a stab wound, according to the release.

Rodriguez-Olmos was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead at 3:24 a.m.

An autopsy showed that Rodriguez-Olmos died from being stabbed, Winter said.

Anyone with information can call the Sheriff’s Department homicide bureau at (323) 890-5500. Those who wish to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477.

-- Nicole Santa Cruz

Reynaldo Tiria Yandan , 60

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Reynaldo Tiria Yandan, a 60-year-old Filipino man, was found dead Tuesday, March 4, after he was shot in the 10400 block of Plainview Avenue in Tujunga, according to Los Angeles County coroner’s records.

After Yandan didn’t show up to work, a co-worker went to his home and found Yandan’s body, said LAPD Det. Anthony Stephenson.

Paramedics who came to the scene pronounced Yandan dead at 3:50 p.m., said Ed Winter, a coroner’s spokesman. An autopsy showed that Yandan died from multiple gunshot wounds.

Police believe that Yandan was killed on March 1. According to surveillance video, Yandan was seen entering his home around noon on that day.

Anyone with information can call the LAPD Foothill detective desk at (818) 834-3115. Those who wish to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477.

-- Nicole Santa Cruz

Shailo Ikegasio Leafa, 21

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Shailo Ikegasio Leafa, a 21-year-old Samoan man, was shot and killed Wednesday, March 5, near West 259th Street and South Western Avenue in Harbor City, according to Los Angeles County coroner’s records.

Leafa and two other men were sitting near a parking lot about 9:40 p.m. when a person walked up and fired several rounds, striking Leafa and another man, according to a news release from the Los Angeles Police Department.

The gunman was with at least one other person, said LAPD Det. Julie Scruggs.

Leafa was taken to a hospital where he died at 10:22 p.m., said Ed Winter, a coroner’s spokesman. An autopsy showed that Leafa died from a gunshot wound, Winter said.

Anyone with information can call LAPD Harbor Homicide Detectives at (310 726-7882. Those who wish to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477.

-- Nicole Santa Cruz

Man due in court in Koreatown shooting

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A 36-year-old man who was arrested after allegedly shooting and killing a man in a vehicle in Koreatown is due in court this week on murder and attempted murder charges, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

Tremayne Ware, a 36-year-old black man, has been charged with one count of murder and two counts of attempted murder in the Feb. 9 shooting.  

Clay Allen Casey, 49, a black man, was sitting in a sport utility vehicle with two women when a man approached and began shooting at Clay and the women, said LAPD Det. John Skaggs. A person who witnessed the shooting saw Ware attempting to run away from the scene, Skaggs said, and used his car to strike Ware.

Ware’s pelvis was broken, Skaggs said. He was arrested that day. Ware is due in court March 14 on the murder charges, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

-- Nicole Santa Cruz

Featured reader comments

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One thing that always stands out when reading the comments on the Homicide Report is the pain families are left with after a homicide.

Bre's comment last week — about Branden Lee Tritschler, 25, who was shot in Central-Alameda in March 2013 — is a powerful example:

Branden-

Rest in peace Branden.... Please take care of your little brother Sergio who was murdered this year on January 18th., he was a great kid! I know you two are in heaven together chillin on a big cloud of smoke having good times. Both of you will never be forgotten! You were always a good brother to Serg!

Bre & Family--

On most articles, the L.A. Times asks readers to share any information they may have about a homicide with police. Susan recently wrote a plea for information about the death of Vadim Kogan, 48, who was killed in August 2012 in Koreatown:

Vadim, I think of you every day. I miss you every time I am over near you building. I keep picturing you and Cujo strolling down the sidewalk.

What happened to you is the antithesis of everything you are: kind, loving, open.

I still hear nothing about who did this to you or WHY? Where is our media and why has it not done its job? An innocent, well-loved citizen of our city was snatched from us unjustly and all we hear is silence. You deserve better Vadim; WE CARE WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU & WON'T FORGET!

Please--Does anyone have any information?

You are in my thoughts always Vadim. The pain of missing you never diminishes.

As the Homicide Report article from 2012 states, anyone with information about Kogan can call LAPD detectives: (213) 382-9472 or (213) 382-9476. To leave an anonymous tip, call Crime Stoppers: (800) 222-8477.

Matt Ballinger

Arrest made in slaying of man whose head was found in Griffith Park

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Gabriel Campos-Martinez, a 38-year-old former chef, was charged Monday with one count of murder in the death of Hervey Medellin, 66, whose severed head, hands and feet were found in Griffith Park in January 2012.

Campos-Martinez was arrested Sunday in San Antonio and is being held on $1-million bail.

L.A. County Deputy Dist. Atty. Bobby Grace said Campos-Martinez may have learned that Medellin, a former Mexicana Airlines employee, planned to break off their romantic relationship.

"Somehow, either directly or indirectly, he may have gotten the hint he wasn't going to be around and that triggered him to do this," Grace told The Times.

The Times' Kate Mather and Richard Winton reported that it took investigators more than two years to assemble their case:

"This was a lengthy investigation, and they reached the point where they believe they had evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that he committed the murder," LAPD Cmdr. Andrew Smith said.

Grace said Campos-Martinez moved to San Antonio, where his extended family lives, about a year after Medellin's death. He married a woman there, the prosecutor said, and worked concessions at the San Antonio Convention Center.

"He built a new life for himself," Grace said.

If convicted, Campos-Martinez faces 25 years to life in state prison.

Read the full report: Suspect held in death of man whose head was found in Griffith Park

— Los Angeles Times Staff

Photo: Gabriel Campos-Martinez. Credit: Associated Press


Earnest Dewitt Brannon, 67

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Earnest Dewitt Brannon, a 67-year-old white man, was found dead Sunday, March 9, after he was strangled and stabbed in the 1100 block of West 98th Street in Westmont, according to Los Angeles County coroner's records.

Deputies responded to a call about a dead body about 10:40 p.m. in a home in the area, said Lt. John Corina with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Rooms in the home are rented out to people with mental health issues, Corina said.

Investigators said Brannon got into a fight with his roommate in the home and was strangled and stabbed. The home had been ransacked, and there were signs of a struggle.

Brannon was pronounced dead at 10:43 p.m., said Ed Winter, a spokesman with the coroner's office. Toriano Benford, a 43-year-old black man, was arrested on suspicion of murder the next day, according to Sheriff's Department online records.

The L.A. County district attorney's office declined to file charges against Benford, citing a lack of evidence, said Ricardo Santiago, a spokesman with the district attorney's office.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500. Those who wish to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477.

— Nicole Santa Cruz and Frank Shyong

Isaac Gaston Jr., 31

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Isaac Gaston Jr., a 31-year-old blackmale, died Sunday, March 9, after being shot in Compton, according to Los Angeles County coroner's records.

Quentel Shontay Gordon, 24

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Quentel Shontay Gordon, a 24-year-old blackmale, died Wednesday, March 12, after in Watts, according to Los Angeles County coroner's records.

Pomona man pleads not guilty in fatal Long Beach shooting

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A Pomona man who got into an altercation at a Long Beach party that resulted in a fatal shooting pleaded not guilty this week to murder charges, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney's office.

Thearath Sam, a 26-year-old Asian man, has been charged with one count of murder and two counts of possession of a firearm by a felon -- the charges include special allegations that he fired a handgun that caused death.

Sam, suspected of being a gang member, was at a party when he allegedly got into a argument with Sambo Chhoy, a 33-year-old Cambodian man, according to prosecutors.

The two men were then told to leave the party and went into a back alley. Sam allegedly followed Chhoy for two blocks, then shot him, according to prosecutors.

Chhoy died at the scene. Sam was arrested on suspicion of murder Feb. 21. Sam was convicted in 2007 of one count of vandalism. His bail has been set at $2 million. If convicted, he faces up to 54 years to life in prison. Sam is due in court April 15.

Frank Shyong

A fresh start cut short; mother wonders if her son's killing will go unsolved

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Desiree Peters sat on a couch in the Inglewood apartment she’s lived in since 1999.  On the coffee table were dozens of photos of Akeem Dashawn Leggins, her 23-year-old son who was shot and killed two days before.

There was a picture of 8-year-old Leggins, clad in a blue tuxedo and lifting his leg into a karate kick. One of him smiling in a cap and gown in 2005, when he graduated from middle school. A more recent photo showed Leggins during his son’s first Christmas with yet another smile.

Leggins had celebrated a birthday two days before he was killed. That night, he had donned a new outfit and gone on a date to see “About Last Night.” The birthday cake his mother baked – chocolate with yellow frosting – sat in the refrigerator, the leftovers untouched.  

Although his birthday was simple, it was emblematic of the way Leggins had started living. Gone were the days of getting into trouble. Now, life was about his son and completing a job training program. He had started cooking more often and would whip up pancakes. He had learned how to fry chicken.  

“I knew Akeem had changed when he started wearing clothes that fit him,” Peters said. 

He could be found on the apartment-filled block where he grew up, telling the "youngsters," as he called them, to stay out of trouble.

In this neighborhood, Leggins had become accustomed to being approached by gang members and had told his mother he had no choice but to associate with them.

Peters isn't sure she’ll ever know who killed her son. Her brother Otis Peters Jr. was killed in the mid-1980s outside a liquor store at 89th Street and South Vermont Avenue. The killing remains unsolved. 

“People aren’t going to say anything because they’re scared,” she said about her son’s killing. “You keep your mouth closed.”

This year, Inglewood has seen a jump in homicides. So far this year, seven people have been killed in the city, according to the most recent figures provided by the Los Angeles County coroner’s office. At this time last year, no one had been killed in the city, though by the end of 2013, 17 people had, according to the L.A. Times' Homicide Report.

Peters said she has noticed more roadside memorials popping up all over town. 

The day Leggins was killed, he asked his mother’s advice on what to wear to a job training program.

She picked a light-colored dress shirt and a sweater. The other shirt she had considered was still on top of his bed along with his homework in his bedroom, where basketball jerseys were tacked onto the wall and a child’s toys spilled out of the closet. 

Leggins had been playing "World of Warcraft" that day, and had left the laptop open with the game on when he left the house.

She thinks he was on his way back when he was shot about 5:25 p.m. at a bus stop at West Beach Avenue and Venice Way.

Peters came home from her job as a customer service supervisor in downtown Los Angeles to the open laptop, music flowing from the speakers. 

“He thought he was coming right back,” she said.

-- Nicole Santa Cruz

Top photo: Leggins with his son during the baby's first Christmas. Bottom photo: Leggins, 8, does a karate kick after an elementary school event. Credits: Desiree Peters

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