Victim

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Victim: William Stormo

Date: February 8, 2001

Address: 2930 Broadway Street

Synopsis: On the morning of February 8, 2001, SDPD Communications received an anonymous 911 call from a restaurant on Adams Avenue.  The male caller reported finding his friend dead and the apartment door open at 2930 Broadway.  Officers responded to the apartment on Broadway, and upon their arrival they found Bill Stormo dead on the living room floor.  There appeared to have been a struggle and some ransacking, and many items were missing from the apartment.

Stormo was a very friendly individual who entertained many visitors at his apartment.  Based on information from witnesses, Stormo was probably killed either earlier that morning or late the night before. An autopsy revealed that Stormo had been strangled.

Victim

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Victim: Ben Clark

Date: March 15, 2001

Address: 4303 Ohio Street

Synopsis: The victim Benjamin Clark was a doorman for the Nite Life Bar on Ohio Street.  He was jovial and well-liked by co-workers and customers and was also a large man who usually was able to keep unruly customers in check with his physical presence.

On the morning of March 15, 2001, Benjamin Clark ejected a group of unruly Hispanic male customers from the Nite Life Bar after repeatedly warning them not to touch the dancers.  Members of the group threatened to return later with a gun.  Clark did not take the threats seriously and continued attending to his duties at the club.

After the bar closed, Clark followed his normal routine of escorting the female bartender out to her car.  As they walked outside, Clark spotted someone hiding behind the parked car and walked up first to check it out.  At this point a Hispanic male appeared from behind the car, yelled out “I’m going to shoot you punk” and shot Clark multiple times.  Clark fell to the ground and died a short time later. 

The suspect ran southbound on Ohio Street and eastbound on El Cajon Boulevard.  Detectives believe Clark’s murder was a retaliation perpetrated by the men he had ejected earlier from the bar.

Victim

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Victim: Gregg Adamec

Date: June 16, 2002

Address: 5000 Voltaire Street

Synopsis: An unknown assailant shot Gregg Adamec as he was walking on 5000 Voltaire Street at about 9:15 p.m.

A witness in the area heard a gunshot, immediately looked across the street and saw Adamec lying on the sidewalk.  The suspect, a white male with dark hair and wearing dark clothing, was still standing over Adamec’s body.  The suspect jumped onto a bicycle and rode off eastbound on Voltaire Street and then southbound on Bacon Street.  Adamec had been shot one time in the face at close range.

Adamec had been the victim of a burglary and arson two months before, which could possibly be related to this case. No motive for the murder has been established.

Double Homicide Victims

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Victims: Sharon Burton & Carol Waites

Date: January 1, 2003

Address: 5080 Logan Avenue

While they were parked in front of the store, at least two carloads of gang members pulled up in front of the liquor store and began shooting in the parking lot.  It is believed the shooters were aiming at rival gang members loitering in the lot.  Burton and Waites were killed, and Waites’ nephew was critically injured but survived.

The Governor of the State of California has offered a $50,0000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspects in this case.

Victim

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Victim: Eddie Meram

Date: May 1, 2003

Address: 5080 Logan Avenue

Suspect information: Two men

On the morning of May 1, 2003, Meram was found shot to death inside his store.  An examination of store surveillance video revealed that Meram had been rushed by two men just moments after he opened his store for business that morning.  The men overpowered Meram, robbed him and shot him to death.

Missing Person

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Missing Person: Tony Andrade Cruz

Date: May 28, 2003

Address: 1229 Tenth Avenue

Suspect information: None

Tony Cruz was last seen between 6 and 8 a.m. leaving his residence at 1229 Tenth Avenue. The woman he lived with indicated that Cruz went to a nearby post office (Ninth and E Street) to mail some bills.  Tony Cruz has not been seen or heard from since.

Cruz had become increasingly reliant on a walker or cane.  He reportedly had contacts in the downtown area and had visited Yuma, Arizona and Ensenada, Mexico in years past.  However, there was no indication Cruz had plans to visit Yuma or Ensenada on this occasion.

Victim

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Victim: Kauko Aho

Date: July 15, 2003

Address: 3500 Monroe Avenue

Synopsis: On Tuesday evening, July 15, 2003, a resident of the apartment building at 3535 Monroe Avenue discovered the victim, Mr. Kauko Aho, 42, collapsed in the front lobby of the apartment building with Aho’s bicycle on the ground nearby.  Aho was suffering from a deep stab wound to the chest, a slashing wound to the right arm, and was bleeding profusely.   Police and paramedics were summoned, and Aho was taken to the hospital where he lingered unconscious for a week before dying.

An investigation revealed Aho had been out riding his bicycle earlier on the evening of the incident.  Aho was apparently stabbed somewhere in the vicinity of 4500 35th Street by an unknown suspect or suspects.  After suffering the injury, Aho rode his bicycle home and collapsed.

Victim

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Victim: Raul Aguila

Date: August 24 , 2003

Address: 400 33rd Street

Synopsis: Raul Aguila attended a party at a friend’s house in Logan Heights, which began to break up at around midnight.  Aguila left the party in his car with a friend, and their route out of the neighborhood took them up 33rd Street.  Several men, believed to be gang members living in the area, were loitering on 400 33rd Street and threw bottles and rocks at Aguila’s car as it passed.  Aguila got away from the immediate area but returned a little while later on foot with some friends to confront the gang members.  To the surprise of Aguila and his friends, the gang members immediately pulled guns and began shooting.  Aguila and his friends fled and the men chased them, still shooting.  Everyone in Aguila’s group got away safely, except for Aguila himself.  The men caught up with Aguila on the corner of 33rd & J Streets and shot him to death.

This murder may be related to another murder that occurred in National City several months later.

Victim

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Victim: Jessyka Brown

Date: September 5, 2003

Address: 2900 Clay Street

Synopsis: Shortly after midnight, the victim Jessyka Brown and her boyfriend were sitting and talking on the steps of the Women’s Civic Center at 2972 Clay Avenue (the center was closed).  A confrontation occurred wherein one or more suspects approached the couple and began shooting.  It is believed the boyfriend was the initial target of the attack; however the boyfriend escaped injury.  Brown died at the scene.  Investigators do not believe the boyfriend shot Brown.  However, they do believe the boyfriend knows more about the suspects and about what happened than he is saying.

A uniformed officer was in the parking lot of Central Division and heard the gunshots.  The officer put the information out on the radio at the same time that several residents on 2900 Clay Avenue phoned in reports of shots being fired.  Responding units located the scene and the victim within three minutes.

Witnesses described the shooter as a male, probably black, of average height and slim build and possibly in his early 20s based on his build and the way he moved.

One witness provided second-hand information that the shooter left in a red car that was parked on the corner of 30th and Clay Streets.  Another witness saw the shooter running southbound on 30th Street with a second male and did not see a red car. 

Brown was described by one of her sisters as family oriented and good with children.  Brown left behind a two-month old baby boy.

Victim

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Fugitive Vehicle

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Victim: Mario Alvarez

Date: April 14, 2004

Address: 3800 Cottonwood Drive

Synopsis: Mario Alvarez, age 41, was shot to death while fixing his nephew’s bicycle on the sidewalk in front of his house at 3800 Cottonwood Drive.

Earlier that afternoon, Alvarez had assisted his next-door neighbor when the neighbor interceded in a loud dispute between a man in a car and a woman in the alley behind the neighbor’s apartment.  The woman was crying for help and said the man in the car was following her.  Alvarez and his neighbor went out in the alley and confronted the man in the car.  Words were exchanged, after which the man left.

Later in the evening, the same man returned to the neighborhood in the same car.  This time, the man was in the passenger seat and a second male was driving.  Alvarez was working on his nephew’s bicycle on the sidewalk in front of his house.  The car pulled up alongside Alvarez and the passenger leaned out of the window and fired multiple shots at Alvarez, striking him and killing him.  The suspect vehicle then sped away.

Detectives developed information that the suspect and vehicle possibly frequented areas of high prostitution, particularly the area along 2800 – 3200 Main Street.

The suspect (shooter) is described as a Hispanic male, mid-30s to mid-40s, with short hair, a short beard, brown eyes and wide, flared nostrils.

The driver of the car, who returned with the suspect for the shooting, is described as a Spanish-speaking Hispanic male, 30-33, 5’ 4” to 5’ 6” clean-shaven, with black wavy collar-length hair. 

The suspect vehicle is described as an early-to-mid 90s Nissan Sentra XE or a similar vehicle, medium-dark blue or turquoise in color.  The rear and rear-side windows are lightly tinted.  The wheels have custom chrome spoke rims, with the spokes described as being in a zig-zag shape similar to a lightning bolt.  Witnesses described the rims as being very noticeable.  The license plates are blue-on-white California plates with the last three letters being “946” or “964” or something similar.  There may be damage to the rear trunk area.

The stock photos (click on 'see larger view' to see all photos) of the vehicle and wheels are similar to, but not necessarily identical to, the wheels described by witnesses as being on the suspect vehicle at the time of the murder.