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[Music] our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents if you feel at
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anytime you need support please contact your local crisis center for suggested phone numbers for confidential support
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please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website today's episode deals with a crime
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committed against a child it won't be suitable for all listeners we're gonna go to chill Warren right
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and even though recently changed this gray building on the right it's 59 block of Pacheco was an ice cream place so
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kids would frequently hang out there that's where they get their ice cream if thing you'll notice is that the
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streets tend to get pretty narrow down here they're more designed for the old I mean a lot of these houses down in this
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area might have been built in the early nineteen hundred's so the streets become
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a lot narrower turn right here there we go that's to the extent if two cars are coming at each other you know in
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opposing directions one is gonna have to pull off so people can't go as fast in these areas in
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all right no we're gonna park here and we'll in 1997 nine year-old Eric coy was living with his parents and older
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brother in a central neighborhood of Martinez Northern California most Saturdays Eric played with his cousin
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Hedrick who was also his best friend edrick only lived two 5-minute bike ride away from Eric I often hung out after
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school and on the weekends tossing baseballs and footballs and climbing trees they did what all the local kids
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did got ice cream or sweets at the store and while away the hours riding their bikes and mucking around staying out
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most of the day close to edge Rick's house was the Youth Boys and Girls Club where kids from all over went to hang
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out often playing basketball on the courts out the back as the weekend rolled around one would phone the others
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house to see if they could play and on Saturday January 24th 1987 that's exactly what Eric did just before 11
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a.m. that day he phoned his auntie Angela to see if he could visit and play with Eric at first she said he couldn't
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come up but then changed her mind and said yes at 10:55 a.m. Eric got on his bike and
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set off to Eric's house there was a shortcut through Martinez junior high at the bottom of his street
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it was raining a little and he wanted to get to his cousin's he asked quickly so
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he took the shortcut [Music] in the East Bay region of San Francisco Bay along the southern shore of the
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Carquinez Strait is the city of Martinez the city is still small today with just
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15,000 households over 12 square miles but in 1987 that was even smaller with a population of around 24,000 people
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Martinez has views directly over the Carquinez Strait facing the city center of Benicia in the southeastern part of
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Vallejo it looks over to the ridge tops of Mount Diablo and other mountains to the west of Martinez are the regional
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parks and recreational areas it seems to sit in a little valley hugged on each site by other mountains or water in 1987
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you would be hard-pressed to find families who didn't know each other well have at least some link to one another
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it was a simple place in a time when no one worried about what their kids were doing they were all outside exploring
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and playing it was just how it was the Alhambra Creek meanders its way from north to south through Martinez although
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it can run low in the summer months in winter it's full and attracts otters and turtles downtown Martinez is quaint and
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even now fairly unchanged from 1987 Martinez has managed to keep many of the buildings traditional just the way they
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always were there is a slow pace in Martinez like a big country town there seems to be no
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rush and people are friendly and warm the Main Street businesses are a mixture of local traders or mum and pop stores
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and the city is famous for its antique stores and it's fair number of legal services being the county seat for
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Contra Costa County and home to the County Courthouse the county jail and various other government amenities like
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the county hospitals Martinez services many people outside its own population if you need county services you have to
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go to downtown Martinez and with that comes a slight air of transients Martinez has always been a hub for
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public transport the Amtrak national rail system has for decades had a daily route through the small city this train
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runs from Emeryville near San Francisco all the way to Chicago there is also a service from Seattle to Los Angeles and
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numerous other local trains bringing people from all walks of life not impossible to walk from one side of
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Martinez to the other the train station is just blocks from the courthouse and likewise just blocks from the hospitals
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including a mental health facility Erik coin Dee's family lived just a few large
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blocks from downtown Martinez in a duplex on the corner of Willow and Warren streets a quiet suburban
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neighborhood which at the time was a mixture of single dwellings duplexes and townhouses Danny and Barbara coy brought
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their second son Erik into the world in 1978 while Danny was stationed in England with the military they already
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had a son Jason who was three the Khoi family moved back to Martinez around the time of Eric's first birthday sometime
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during the year that followed Eric's parents broke up but two years later when Eric was four they reunited and all
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began living together as a family again other family members would say that Eric
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was closest to his mother Barbara and his brother Jason was closer to his father Danny they lived in a corner
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duplex and shared a driveway with their neighbors although many houses including
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Eric's have now been redeveloped most of the homes at the time were built around
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1900 the streets are narrow and homes are relatively close together including Eric's and his neighbors whose doors
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were only around 10 meters from each other the local police department Fire Station and Youth Boys and Girls Club
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were just a few small blocks away from Eric's house at the top of Warren Street up a slight Hill in just a minutes bike
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ride is Martinez junior high school and just past the high school over the Alhambra Creek was Eric's cousin's house
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edrick even today 31 years later cars still drive slowly and roll up to cornice at a relaxed pace it feels like
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a neighborhood well cared for a house on Eric's old Street flies the American flag gardens are neat and school kids
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huddled together opposite Martinez junior high to buy ice cream cones from a street vendor as the bell rings in
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[Music] 1987 John Q was a 17 year old local kid from the neighborhood Marcus a very
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simple playing town that's just wonderful and beautiful and like you said nothing and there's nothing big
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about Martinez it's not a target in addition and that is nothing like that around there there's you know there's
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Walmart and maybe a home you know maybe a home depot is just a very simple small
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great town many me I have so much family Martinez to this day that's unbelievable
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no young people who've got people who are born with a ring or raise families there don't leave because the place is
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wonderful and just everyone loves it when Eric coy first started school he attended Martinez elementary a couple of
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blocks from his home but he had a hard time focusing and he began to fall behind it was thought he might do better
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if he attended lost hunters elementary a couple of miles away which allowed kids
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to get a little more help and focus and the smaller class sizes allow Derek to have more one-on-one attention by 1987
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Eric was in the third grade and into his second year at Los Lunas Elementary he had close friends and was known as a
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cute and happy kid he reminded people of the character Spanky in the our gang films Eric's principal said the
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following about him quote Eric was a lockable boy who was always smiling just last week he won a Good Citizen Award by
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caring for the environment and returning lost articles he was watching to keep things clean without being told he had a
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big smile when he got his award on Saturday January 24th 1987 after Eric got off the phone to his auntie Angela
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around 10:50 5:00 a.m. he went to his room to fetch his chrome rally bike as he rolled his bike through the house he
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said goodbye to his father Danny and brother Jason Danny told him to put a jacket on and to call home when he got
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to East cousin's house Eric then set off on the short ride to Eric's it was an overcast morning with a little light
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rain but Eric only had less than a mile to ride and with the trip taking just minutes the rain didn't bother him he
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rode up Warren Street two short blocks to Martinez junior higher it was the shortcut he took to Ed ryx
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the school building is at the top of a slight Hill and riding down the hill towards the baseball field and grassy
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area at the back allowed Eric to gain some speed at the back of the school grounds along the fields runs the
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Alhambra Creek which was pretty full at that time of year it's a wooded area with bushes and trees lining the creek
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on both sides and a row of houses on the opposite side to the school there was a simple chain-link fence
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separating the school from the creek the chain link fence led to the back left corner of the sports field where it
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stopped for an opening for a 15 meter long concrete footbridge that went over the creek there was a narrow bridge with
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three concrete steps kids would disband their bikes walk them over then jump back on at the other side on the other
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side of the footbridge which is no longer there today there is a small street with houses that go right up to
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the creek after going over the footbridge Eric's route would have taken him past the goodie hut which was the
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local corner store where Eric and his brother often stopped to spend their pocket money the shopkeeper knew them
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well it was a route he had taken countless times before at 11:30 a.m. Eric's auntie Angela found his house
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looking through him because he hadn't arrived yet Eric's parents said he had left shortly before 11:00 so he should
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have been there by now even if he stopped off at the goodie Hut it shouldn't have taken him this long
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Eric's father Danny waited 10 minutes in case he got a call from Angela saying Eric was there but when no second call
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came he could in his car and drove the route to Angela's house he couldn't drive the exact route Eric would have
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ridden because of the shortcut through Martinez junior high but he drove around the outskirts of the school
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Eric's uncle jumped in his car at the other end and did the same during his search he ran into Eric's mom Barbara
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who had started searching on foot but there was no sign of Eric sometime between Erica leaving home and
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his auntie Angela ringing to say he hadn't arrived yet a local 13 year old boy ringing to the
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Boys and Girls Club on Alhambra Avenue to get to the Boys and Girls Club the 13 year old boy had written his book on the
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same path that Eric had taken through Martinez junior high when he got to the footbridge at the back of the school
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he saw Eric's bike and Eric lying face down on the ground close to the bridge on the school side the boy quickly rode
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to the Boys and Girls Club and asked some of the other kids to come back to the bridge to help because Eric had
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fallen off his bike a few of the kids from the club jumped on their bikes and made their way to the footbridge one of
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those was 17 year old John Q McCullough panino watch the boys up and playing basketball and do our normal thing
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playing ping pong playing pool and then one of the kids I honestly cannot remember his name he ran in the boys
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club is like or someone is in to come with me to the Junior High School were like why he's all well that kid Eric I
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was walking walking by the boys football by the Brit and it was the junior high school by the bridge and he's laying
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facedown in the money he's not moving I was thinking oh God so me and a couple other kids ran into
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the branch of the word where the bridge was from the high school and once we got
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there I told I told him to stay back then walked with a bridge and I noticed Eric's bike was propped up against the
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the fence that was there and wasn't mangled it was just propped up on the fence and then I walked past that and I
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looked over and I saw him and he was facedown in the mud with his eyes open his throat from ear to ear and that was
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the most horrific thing I've ever seen and all the other kids are like what's going on what's going on and I couldn't
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stop them obviously I told me fish they should learn if they parted from behind me in the they looked
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in there I go what's going on like I don't know I didn't want to say anything yeah in my young age I knew what was
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what what happened I knew he was dead because you know there was so much blood and that his eyes were wide open and he
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wasn't moving and that that picture I can draw your picture to those days horrifying
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well not in them but their profits in my head it may just still scares me just to
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see that again and so you know I try to get that try to get them away from the area and I looked
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around and didn't see anybody else and then I ran into one of the neighbors knocked on the door and said well
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there's a kid over here by the junior high school is waste of money it's not moving you know and it's like this
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wrapped up like I don't know what to what I should do can you follow police and so the probably you know should walk
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topless right now closes door then I had all the kids with me um by the bridge not by never air
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thank God but by the bridge and then the cops showed up is a fire fire truck showed up there right well you know
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what's going on I told him what's wrong why I saw they walk over there and then the legation when the fire of day she
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started rushing over there and I heard what I'm saying that he has a slight pulse I was thinking that's impossible
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but not okay but um the main kid that found him the police took him to one of the patrol cars to try to calm him down
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because once he realized what was happening I really remember that he started to freak out a little bit
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because of what he had seen the fire department were the first responders to arrive when they found Eric he was lying
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face down with his head tilted to one side and his eyes open they quickly rolled him over to perform
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life-saving procedures and discovered multiple stab wounds to his torso he had some superficial defensive wounds to his
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hands and forearm and his throat had been cut ear to ear there was nothing that could
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be done it was already gone Martinez Police Department arrived on the scene soon after while he was out
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searching Danny coy saw some police officers huddled down the end of the street leading to the back of the school
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so he pulled up leaned out his window and asked them if they had seen a young boy the officers asked a need a police
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car over Danny Boy quote I just kept saying to myself that he's not dead he's hurt but I knew he was dead the
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policeman told me your son's been murdered all I could say was why [Music] Erik's mother Barbara and Derek's uncle
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pulled up at the school when they saw it on his truck Danny walked over to them and said Eric's been murdered
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Barbara became so distraught the police had to take her to one of their vehicles and drive her home
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police took over the scene and collected evidence with Eric being found within minutes of his attack either the killer
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got in and got out very quickly or the killer saw the thirteen-year-old boy who found Derick riding towards them and
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fled a red compact style pickup truck was seen in the vicinity of the crime scene that morning when police searched
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there was no sign of it but they did contact the owner of a similar truck which was parked on a nearby street that
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day they learned that a father and son had been sitting inside the truck waiting for the rain to stop so they
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could get out and throw their baseball in the field at the back of 19's junior high but they didn't see or hear
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anything suspicious it had been raining a little so police were able to collect some footprints from the scene
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I remember a few days afterward that the prop sent coming were so gravitas the kids that had seen what we saw and asked
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us to make foot impressions in because I'm a part of the new high school there was a fan pit for the long jumper for PE
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year and track every else well I guess they have found a footprint in the sand that that morning track and empathy for
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whatever this kind of clean so there's onyx foot impressions after cross-checking the footprints found at
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the scene against all the kids who had been there as well as first responders they were unable to match them to
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anybody an extensive neighborhood canvass was carried out with all hands on deck at the time there were 37
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members of the Martinez Police Department and doors were not done all the way along Eric's route around
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Martinez junior higher and surrounding areas people were asked if they had seen or heard anything suspicious that
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morning police made detailed notes of each person they spoke with and also jot it down and ran all vehicle license
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plates in the area they spoke with the people from the homes which sat right up close to the footbridge at the back of
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Martinez junior high one of them was the elderly man John Q had run to for help and who had called 9-1-1 in the second
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home from the footbridge was an elderly woman she didn't see or hear anything prior to the kids yelling for help
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she said quote it's always been so quiet around here the only time we ever have any noise is when kids go across the
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bridge to go to school or play detectives looked into records of all inmates that were discharged from the
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local jail during that week being only a few blocks from the crime scene they followed up on every name but no one
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stood out as a suspect [Music] when police sat down with the coy family they realized how small the time frame
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was a very exploder I left time at approximately 10:55 a.m. he would have gotten to the footbridge
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just before 11:00 and he was found by the thirteen-year-old boy heading to the Boys and Girls Club just
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15 minutes later why would someone viciously attack a nine-year-old boy in broad daylight
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Eric's family had no idea his grandmother Ruth said he just loved people but he would not take up with
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strangers he was a street smart boy his father Danny sitting on the back doorstep of their house spoke to a
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reporter he was wavering between being devastated and angry quote he was a very active kid and he loved that bike the
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good kids are the ones taken from us when asked about the killer then he said I would love to watch the son of a [ __ ]
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door they could let me in the cage and I would strangle him myself we hope you're enjoying today's show
00:22:35
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visiting Casper calm / case file terms and conditions apply when speaking to the press on Monday
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Martinez Police Chief Robert mark with confirmed they were doing everything they could to track down the killer but
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they had no answers quote we have recovered some evidence at the scene it's a baffling case right now we have
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no suspects no motives and no weapons there is reason to believe the suspect had been lying in wait prior to contact
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with the victim all the resources of the department are involved we are looking at anything and everything
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we aren't limiting ourselves as Martinez police awaited results from the autopsy
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they make contact with the FBI and the Department of Justice to aid in the investigation the FBI was asked to
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complete a psychological profile of the killer police set up security around Martinez Junior High and had an officer
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stationed at the footbridge as kids started arriving at school on Monday morning a 24 hour hotline was set up for
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anyone with information Police Chief Mark Worth said he was confident the case would be solved the autopsy
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confirmed Derek's death was caused by multiple stab wounds to his torso and a single wound to his neck the murder
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weapon was believed to be a 6-inch double-edged knife or sharp object of some sort while investigating
00:25:19
circumstances surrounding the lead up to Eric's murder police are certain there had been an argument between the Kois
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and their neighbors the night before January 23rd the Kois female neighbor Alicia who they shared a driveway with
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had complained to Barbara that Eric's bike was blocking the pathway to her front door Alicia's brother Benny was
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staying with her as he often did and that day the day before Eric's murder he and a friend Eddie were fixing a car at
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the front of their place Eric's bike sparked an argument between Barbara and Alicia
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and Benny and Eddie also chimed in Barbara called Erik's father Danny who was at a friend's house and asked him to
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return home when Danny arrived the argument continued between him and Benny verbal threats were made against the
00:26:09
Kois including the following quote get your kid to movies bark or I'm gonna kill him the argument was heated enough
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for Danny to call the police it was apparent there had been some animosity between the families but there was
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nothing to suggest the threat was anything more than a terrible coincidence on Tuesday January 27th
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Benny who hadn't been staying at his sister Alicia's place since the murder three days earlier got wind that the
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police wanted to speak with him so he attended Martinez police station voluntarily and was interviewed he
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confirmed that there was a verbal altercation and there had been arguments before between him and the Kois about
00:26:55
him working on cars in the driveway his version of the altercation was slightly different to Barbara and Danny's after
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his interview Benny was released and was not considered a suspect two witnesses came forward during the investigation
00:27:14
and said that on the morning of the murder they were parked on Susannah Street at the northwestern end of
00:27:19
Martinez junior high eric was found about 200 meters south of their location at the southwestern corner of the school
00:27:27
grounds the two witnesses saw a man walking down the ramp from behind the school and then walk onto Susannah
00:27:34
Street away from the noticing he was described as being of Italian or possibly Latin descent 18 to 21 years
00:27:43
old 5 feet 8 inches tall 165 pounds muscular build with medium length combed back black hair he had very piercing
00:27:52
dark eyes alot complexion and possibly a few acne scars on each cheek he was wearing medium faded Levi's jeans
00:28:00
a lay-by jacket like colored tennis shoes and he was carrying a collapsible short umbrella this person was also seen
00:28:09
by two kids in the area at the time of the murder police confirmed when releasing a
00:28:14
composite sketch of this man to the public that they simply wanted to talk to him he wasn't necessarily a suspect
00:28:21
police chief mark with quote we want to talk to this man because he was in the area we don't have any suspects
00:28:32
Danny and Barbara coy believed the description of the man sounded familiar and they may have seen him before
00:28:38
despite a large amount of media attention the man was never identified the composite sketch can be found in the
00:28:46
show notes the crime scene was in close proximity to a lot of people there are the houses just on the other side of the
00:28:56
footbridge there were the two witnesses in the car on Susannah Street with a view into the school grounds there were
00:29:03
kids playing basketball at the high school who were just about on top of the crime scene but no one heard anything
00:29:10
not one scream was heard from Eric Detective Sergeant Dave mother's and detective miles rumensin drove us around
00:29:19
the side and showed us the close proximity of the footbridge to Susannah Street where the man from the sketch was
00:29:25
seen by the two witnesses so where we're taking you guys now is Susannah where we
00:29:32
looked out to from inside the school just to kind of see where that witness was that given give us a description
00:29:41
train ahead he sees a person walking come between the the notch and the trees there's an actual path that comes down a
00:29:46
cement path that comes down from the front of school when that was installed I'm not quite sure but that I'm sure
00:29:51
that path has been there for a long time if you look across the field you can see
00:29:55
where we were standing yeah my recollection is one from the eyewitness that we're in one of these
00:30:01
off the road with parking spaces waiting it's raining person comes walking across
00:30:06
the the first in the sketch looks because I'm like I think like the quote-unquote a hard stare and then
00:30:14
continues walking a westerner so look how small this is so I mean this way you have houses everywhere you go that way
00:30:28
you have kids on the basketball court you go to the left there's that big is beautiful
00:30:33
we then driver in mountainous where we really got an appreciation of just how close everything was to the crime scene
00:30:42
and we're gonna come to the area where the Boys and Girls Club is and a fire station and then I'll show you the the
00:30:51
other interesting feature so here's the firehouse called station 14 and on the backside of the firehouse is a rec
00:31:00
center or Boys and Girls Club you see all of that on your left you might see some kids that are out in the area but
00:31:09
they were the cars were parked in addition to this park the next thing you notice on your left is the Martinez
00:31:16
police station so that's how close right now it has still been here I mean look at that building
00:31:21
so that's here's the City Hall complex we're talking four and a half blocks Martinez was officially dealing with the
00:31:32
first murder of a child in the city's history the community was better known for burglaries and drug possession than
00:31:38
murders let alone the brutal slaying of a nine-year-old child due to the grief and emotional reaction of the local
00:31:46
community staff from the Contra Costa County Mental Health Department hosted a community support meeting parents who
00:31:53
had always felt Martinez was a safe and quiet area where near fearful most said that would be escorting their children
00:32:00
to and from school until the murderer was caught traffic jams were caused at the school in the days after the murder
00:32:05
as the number of cars to pick up students quadrupled at Eric's school as well as Martinez junior higher
00:32:14
counselors and nurses were made available to all students Eric's principal said that teachers were
00:32:20
looking for students who were showing signs of distress over the motor and referrals were made to the school
00:32:25
psychologist if needed a representative of the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Department visited classrooms to talk
00:32:32
about safety children were reminded of routine safety tips including not talking to strangers walking home with a
00:32:39
partner in staying on major roads one local parent said quote this is the first thing that's happened around to
00:32:48
you that's really scary you hear about how these things happen in other places but this was right in our own backyard
00:32:55
I'll never let my kid walk to school again many of the children Eric's age didn't really understand what had
00:33:04
happened the little kids who was hard to comprehend many of them knew something bad had happened to Eric and he wasn't
00:33:12
coming back but it would be years before it really sank him we spoke to Sarah not her real name
00:33:19
about what it felt like to be a kid in Martinez of aterna a city changed by a cron that many felt
00:33:26
could have been any one of them in January 1987 I was 8 years old and in the second grade I lived in an area
00:33:35
known as the townhomes off Pine Street the road that runs in between where Eric lived and Martinez junior high as an 8
00:33:43
year old I remember the Challenger tragedy Halley's Comet scenes stand by me in the movie theatres and Iroquois
00:33:51
murder Eric crossed over my street that morning on his bike we didn't hear the news until later in the afternoon the
00:33:59
son of a family friend had been one of the kids that had discovered Eric's body his mom had called my mom to tell her
00:34:06
what had happened I can't recall the exact moment she told me however I do remember seeing it later in the news and
00:34:12
then my mom pointing it out to me in the paper the next day it took a while for it to sink in exactly what had happened
00:34:19
at first it seemed like there were various rumors of what had happened floating around all we knew as kids was
00:34:26
that there was a child killer on the loose in our town and the freedoms I enjoyed as a child changed somewhat
00:34:33
having just seen standby me the previous summer I felt the parallels with that story
00:34:39
how the kids had found a body and how they came to understand death through that it was surreal and did not hit home
00:34:45
for a bit I felt more put out that I was no longer allowed to go wherever I wanted looking back I realized I really
00:34:53
didn't understand at the time what had happened I didn't know that I even knew what murder meant or the violence Eric
00:34:59
endured I certainly didn't comprehend the timeliness of his murder and how it happened only a few minutes after
00:35:05
leaving his house on what was such a short bike ride at the time I never realized how brazen an act it was it was
00:35:14
a time when you went to other kids houses to watch cartoons on Saturday morning or if you were playing outside
00:35:19
all day which is all we did you would only check in at lunch or whatever time your mom said to come home we never ever
00:35:26
played inside unless we had to there was nothing scary about the outside world to
00:35:32
me we had nothing to be afraid of as kids It was as if we believed all adults were watching out for us they were there
00:35:40
to make sure we were safe Eric was crossing a footbridge maybe 25 steps from one end to the other and was
00:35:47
murdered in those 25 steps in the middle of the morning with doors and windows and people just shot away the footbridge
00:35:55
is gone now it's overgrown and for most people they wouldn't even know it had ever been there but for the people of
00:36:01
Martinez for us kids and those around at the time we will never forget it and we
00:36:08
will never forget Eric [Music] in the first week of the investigation over 200 tips were called in Police
00:36:20
Chief Mark Worth said there was some really good leads which they were following up and some not-so-good leads
00:36:26
there was something else significant about the day erry coy was murdered first city not known for violent crime
00:36:33
and only one murder on record the entire previous year there were two murders that day only four hours after Iroquois
00:36:44
murder and only a five minute drive away the 24 year old man was found stabbed and bleeding in the gutter outside his
00:36:50
home just outside the city limits he died later that evening Contra Costa County Sheriff's handled the case and
00:36:59
although it was hard to believe the two murders had occurred so close together on the same day investigators believed
00:37:06
the 24 year old victim knew his killer and it was completely unrelated to Erik Weisz murder Erik's funeral was held the
00:37:16
Thursday after his death and as family and friends mourned inside the funeral home police continued to patrol the
00:37:23
streets of Martinez hoping for someone or something to show up but nothing did two weeks after the murder the people of
00:37:36
Martinez open to their newspapers and were given a glimmer of hope that the perpetrator may have been found the
00:37:42
suspect in a robbery had been arrested and appeared in court he resembled the composite sketch of the men walking out
00:37:48
of Martinez junior high on the morning of Eric's murder the robbery suspect was 16 year old Luke Elora and Martinez
00:37:56
police were eager to interview him a few days after Martinez police released their composite sketch police in
00:38:04
Atherton an hour's drive south of Martinez released a composite sketch of a robbery
00:38:08
suspect although there were some differences the two sketches were similar enough that are paid to the
00:38:13
immediate interest of investigators 16 year old Luke Alaura armed with a gun robbed a couple in
00:38:21
Atherton awake after Iroquois murder he locked the couple in their basement and ransacked and burglar
00:38:27
their house he fled with three and a half thousand dollars worth of jewelry the couples vehicle and their 17 year
00:38:35
old daughter Gina Colora hadn't kidnapped Gina though that were working together Gina had a scored
00:38:44
a Kahlua into her family home and stood by as he cut the phone line and locked her parents in the basement after
00:38:51
fleeing Atherton they went on a crime spree committing abductions and robberies in Reno and Las Vegas before
00:38:57
eventually being caught in Riverside County Luke Collura was only 16 years old but there were similarities between
00:39:05
his sketch and the sketch released on Martinez police after Iroquois murder the sketches were completed by the same
00:39:13
sketch artist Tom Makris of San Jose Police Department a highly regarded artist who often helped other
00:39:19
departments with their cases he was involved in composite sketches in the East Area rapist case covered in case 53
00:39:26
of case file the Martinez sketch and the Atherton sketch of Luca Laura showed similar facial characteristics but other
00:39:35
details of the sketches were different Makris said it wasn't unusual for two of his sketches to have similarities he
00:39:42
also said his sketches should be treated as guideposts rather than exact descriptions quote all of it is subject
00:39:50
to distortion because of problems with witnesses recall and the circumstances of their observations the width of the
00:39:59
face and the hairstyle was similar but the man's hair in the Martinez drawing was collar length and wavy while the
00:40:05
hair in Luca Laura sketch was straight and longer the Martinez sketch also showed darker eyes
00:40:12
although only 16 luke Colora could have easily passed 421 as the man seen leaving martinez junior high was thought
00:40:19
to be but it wasn't him the lead fizzled it was just a coincidence which caused great disappointment to the coy family
00:40:30
the police and the people of Martinez who all hoped they might have found their man a second suspect came to light
00:40:42
after another child murder on February 21st 1987 almost a month after Iroquois murder six year-old Jeremy stoner
00:40:51
disappeared in Vallejo 15 minutes north of Martinez just over the water his nude
00:40:57
strangled body was found four days later the team of eight Vallejo police investigators worked around the clock on
00:41:03
the case one of the civilian volunteers who helped search for Jeremy was Sean Quincy Milton a 26 year old one time
00:41:12
security guard wannabe private investigator and a known police hanger-on who often told his neighbors
00:41:18
he worked for the police two days after Jeremy disappeared Sean Milton visited Jeremy's parents John and
00:41:25
Karen's don't know offering these services as a detective he attended the candlelight vigil for Jeremy as well as
00:41:32
his funeral Melton's former psychologist who had treated him a few years earlier
00:41:39
in relation to threats he made against these parents found four Laiho police a week after Jeremy's body was found
00:41:45
during Milton sessions he had told his psychologist that he fantasized about taking young boys to the Delta area and
00:41:52
leading them after harming them the Delta Area is where Jeremy's body was found 20 minutes after the phone call as
00:42:02
police were preparing to go inspector Melton he walked into the police station to offer information that he had
00:42:08
gathered on Jeremy's case he handed over a 15 page thought to report on the killing after providing his information
00:42:17
he left the station but police kept a close watch on him Nelson returned to the police station
00:42:23
that same afternoon to talk further about what he knew only this time he wasn't allowed to leave he was charged with a
00:42:31
Jeremy stoners kidnapping and murder Melton lived in a mobile home with his wife and his neighbors were surprised by
00:42:38
his arrest stating he had never bothered their children they said Melton was a quiet person who mostly kept to himself
00:42:47
after Milton's arrest Martinez police immediately sent two detectives to fillet hoe to investigate
00:42:53
whether Milton could have been responsible for Iroquois murder as well Martinez police couldn't ignore the
00:43:00
proximity in place time and age of the two victims during his police interrogation Melton described himself
00:43:08
as a violent paranoid schizophrenic obsessed with sexual perversions and death he showed signs of a mean second
00:43:16
personality changing his voice mannerisms and facial expressions he started calling himself orphan later his
00:43:25
wife confirmed that his second personality was named John Wolfe during the part of Milton's interrogation where
00:43:33
he spoke as John Wolfe he indicated to police that he was with the person who killed Jeremy stoner he referred to the
00:43:40
killer as the Terminator but that's all he would say about him Melton claimed he had nothing to do with
00:43:47
Jeremy's murder himself he was innocent Melton only had one prior arrest for writing a bad check four years earlier
00:43:58
after an extensive investigation there was no evidence to link Milton to eric quois murder no charges were laid by
00:44:05
Martinez police and to this day there is no evidence to suggest he was involved he was charged with Jeremy stoners
00:44:14
murder but both trials ended in a mistrial due to deadlock two juries a decision was made not to seek a third
00:44:22
trial meaning Sean Milton was allowed to go free several more suspects will look that fat
00:44:36
iroquois murder many were ruled out completely and some there just wasn't enough evidence to
00:44:42
proceed any further with one name that came up was Tommy Lynn sells Tommy Lynn sells was a serial killer that traveled
00:44:51
the United States killing anywhere between 22 and 40 men women and children between the years 1978 into 1999 he was
00:45:00
eventually caught and sentenced to death he was executed in a Texas prison in April 2014 the Texas Rangers reached out
00:45:09
to Martinez police and advised them that Tommy Lynn sells could be a potential suspect in Iroquois murder believing he
00:45:16
was possibly in California around that time he also resembled the composite sketch that had been released
00:45:24
detectives reached out to cells but we're never able to prove if he was or wasn't in Martinez in January 1987 and
00:45:31
it never went any further Contra Costa County DA cold-case investigator Paul holes spoke with us about some of the
00:45:41
persons of interest who have come up during the investigation so somebody like Tommy leave Lynn sells he gets
00:45:49
caught in Texas and they end up time lining him out and he starts dropping into various jurisdictions including
00:45:59
California and so what years are he in California and what kinds of cases what cases are out there that would kind of
00:46:05
fit what we knew he was doing and we've seen that with the Henry Lee Lucas and Ottis Toole who happened to come through
00:46:11
this County and at a certain point when they were talking once they were found and they had travelled all over the
00:46:17
nation well they come into this County and now we're starting to take a look at unsolved homicides because they just
00:46:22
happen to be in the county around you know traffic traveling through it so sometimes these notorious guys pop up in
00:46:30
these little local jurisdiction cases because of that situation and it's an absolute bona fide way to
00:46:38
it's it's bonafide to pursue that as an angle because you could have you know something like that you know them
00:46:45
committing a crime in your jurisdiction but a lot of times and since it's a non-starter you know they literally just
00:46:51
for somebody that maybe were traveling on the freeway got pulled over by CHP given a ticket and they're moving on and
00:46:58
did spend any time at all and weren't responsible for any of the unsolved the other part of this in the 1980s in this
00:47:07
area we had an unusual number and its regional not just contact cost of it kind of regionally we have an unusual
00:47:16
number of kids mostly girls that went missing you know so we have amber sports Garcia and Makayla Garrett Eileen
00:47:26
Mitchell HOF Tara kasi in 1979 Thank You Kim so you kind of look at the context of what's going on in this county and
00:47:34
here we have another kid that is that's being killed kind of a different type of
00:47:38
crime but it's also kind of within well what's the context of what's occurring in the front types it just kind of
00:47:46
happened to spike that we had a lot of problems against kids in the 1980s for whatever reason so that's the stuff
00:47:54
probably also something that influences maybe the original investigators thoughts that this must be a stranger
00:48:01
type of crime so they need to get somebody like a Timothy mid nerd you know who's a guy that's rolling around
00:48:09
in a blue van who's showing up anytime a girl goes missing and he's got little posters of missing kids and his van and
00:48:16
he's reaching out to the moms and missing girls and he's just somebody that's always there and he's always been
00:48:23
suspected with a variety of these cases and then pair he'll you know serve a search warrant on his house and he sued
00:48:29
them and actually won that lawsuit because they announced the media you know so he had sort of a defamation type
00:48:35
of situation but you know you have these types of individuals that are sort of notorious and are known to law
00:48:42
enforcement and when you have a certain type of crime of course you're naturally
00:48:45
going to start thinking well what offenders that we know of who are out there would would fit and so you do have
00:48:51
the shaun Hilton sir vintners that our local guys that you naturally just start eyeballing just to
00:48:57
see typically as you know if you have a fantasy motivated offender he's going to
00:49:04
spend more time with the victim than what we see in this case you know so if it were something like that that's where
00:49:10
I'm thinking the guy got scared off before he could do anything more but if that's the case I mean this was
00:49:18
literally this this little boy is is attacked and killed right away this was not something where the offender is
00:49:25
spending a lot of time with this victim before because then you probably see have another types of evidence
00:49:32
especially if it's sexually motivated you see you know disrobing of the vibe of the body and stuff like that so this
00:49:38
literally to my eyes and it's been a long time since I've looked at the crime scene photos to my eyes as that boy is
00:49:45
pushing his bike and somebody comes up and has immediately started to kill and that tends to gear the motivation less
00:49:51
this guy's fantasy is to kill and that was Gary ridgway's very first crime was he just wanted to see what it would be
00:50:00
like to push a knife inside a body and he goes up to a younger boy and stabs the kid you know you don't have the
00:50:08
typical fantasy stuff going on that you would naturally be able to interpret in a crime scene reconstruction so do you
00:50:15
have that going on or is this this is an individual who's trying to eliminate this little boy for whatever reason is
00:50:24
it because he's got angst against the boy or is it because he is trying to communicate through this violence to
00:50:32
somebody else within a month of the moto dacoit family's neighbors who they had an argument with moved out and moved
00:50:41
away from Martinez nothing further is known about them as the week's turned into months
00:50:48
Martinez began to go back to the way it was police stop circling the streets around Martinez junior high in the
00:50:55
footbridge lest tips came in and before long there was no one left the interview
00:51:01
or question the coif emly were quiet coming to terms with life without eric in it eventually Danny and Barbara
00:51:09
separated again and this time they didn't get back together by 1994 Danny coy was living in his car in a nearby
00:51:19
city he was battling drug and alcohol problems according to Jason cui Eric's brother Danny said he took care of it
00:51:28
meaning he took care of the person that murdered Eric Jason asked his father for
00:51:33
more details but Danny wouldn't elaborate Jason didn't know if his father had really found out who killed
00:51:42
Eric and a dish tower street justice or if he was just drunk and talking [ __ ] there is a report of Danny coy shooting
00:51:50
a gun towards a moving vehicle with two people inside around the same time he told Jason this story
00:51:56
Danny was convicted and served jail time for the shooting but he didn't hurt anybody the occupants inside the vehicle
00:52:04
said they had no idea who Danny coy was or why he shot at them it appeared to be
00:52:09
nothing more than a road rage incident it's unknown if this was the incident Danny was referring to in his
00:52:16
conversation with Jason perhaps he was talking about another incident entirely or maybe Danny was under the influence
00:52:23
and wasn't talking about anything that really happened following Danny's released from prison after the shooting
00:52:32
he took his own life Eric's case eventually went cold and wasn't looked at again until about ten
00:52:43
years later people from the initial investigation including members of the coy family were reinterviews but nothing
00:52:51
further came to light the FBI gave three possible suspect profiles one transient
00:53:00
drifter type mental health issues loner possibly a pedophile that was in martinez at the time of the murder and
00:53:07
Eric and him came in contact with each other by happenstance that morning wrong place wrong time murder after murder
00:53:16
drifter left Martinez and probably never returned to local loner twenty to thirty
00:53:25
year old male not married some type of mental health issue social issues possibly lives with mum or alone
00:53:32
possibly a pedophile that was from the area and committed the murder and is still in the area living a low-key
00:53:38
unassuming life three crazy wild biker type that lives on the edge involved in alcohol and drugs works odd jobs that
00:53:49
require little to no education boisterous and known in his inner circle to live in a Farias violent lifestyle
00:53:56
and might even have boasted about his illegal dealings to friends or family this person hadn't slept in several days
00:54:03
and was in a sort of drug-induced psychosis when the murder occurred possibly still lives in the surrounding
00:54:09
area possibly in prison or has possibly since died due to his lifestyle there are others who suspect the killer
00:54:20
doesn't fit any one of those profiles and maybe someone who was known to area called the coy family Detective Sergeant
00:54:29
Dave mother's has been hoping to solve Eric's case ever since he first picked up the file
00:54:36
around 2005 I assisted Lisa Maloney then a detective with conducting some investigative work on the anniversary of
00:54:45
Eric boy's death our work didn't generate any new leads at that time then in 2007 I was assigned to investigations
00:54:54
as a detective my supervisor John Silvia provided me a copy of the Eric coy case file I started
00:55:01
reading the assortment of documents and I began to attach posted flags next to items where I had questions quickly I
00:55:08
noticed I was running out of post-its I was overrun with questions unfortunately
00:55:14
I was not assigned to this as a cold case and my workload took priority over the air at Coit case my initial review
00:55:22
of the air at quake case file left me overwhelmed thinking there was no way to wrap my arms around the case I was
00:55:31
promoted out of Investigations and returned to Patrol as a sergeant a few years later I learned that Patrick's
00:55:37
Alameda a newly promoted detective at that time had taken an interest in the case but my involvement was limited
00:55:44
since I was now working in patrol around 2012 I returned to investigations as the
00:55:51
detective sergeant in my new role I had more oversight of the Iroquois case I was approached by one of our police
00:55:58
dispatchers autumn Turnage about this case autumn took a real interest in reading the files and listening to the
00:56:05
audio recordings automate significant efforts to fill in many of the blanks she's done an amazing job as a
00:56:12
researcher I've been very impressed with her knowledge of the case in January of
00:56:18
2014 the local newspaper the Martinez Gazette did an article about the 27th anniversary of Eric quois death we hope
00:56:27
to generate enough interest that someone would call in with a tip we received some calls but nothing significant
00:56:33
developed from those leads the case direction has not changed much in the last three years except for the Martinez
00:56:41
police personnel trying to bring it to closure a year ago I retired from the Martinez Police Department
00:56:48
autum Turnage moved on to another department and a newly promoted detective has taken up the case as a
00:56:56
part-time assignment progress is still slow there have not been any major changes or revelations with the case
00:57:06
Martinez PD continues to look at physical evidence hoping advances in evidence processing and DNA will improve
00:57:14
the chances of identifying Eric quois killer when I look back at this case I imagine it was overwhelming back in 1987
00:57:26
for a small Police Department with four detectives trying to manage all the moving parts of the worst crime for a
00:57:33
police department the worst crime for a community and most significantly the worst crime for a family the murder of a
00:57:40
child I think the adage of the first 48 hours certainly applies to this case of course
00:57:48
for me now 31 years later it's very easy to second-guess the detectives decisions
00:57:53
and their investigative strategies but I know they did their best with what they
00:57:58
had a department that wanted to solve Iroquois murder that wanted to bring someone to justice that wanted to
00:58:06
restore the community's sense of safety and that wanted to bring some form of closure to Erik boy's family
00:58:12
[Music] 31 years has passed Eric's family still have no answers but the detectives
00:58:22
determined to solve the case have not given up special thanks to Detective Sergeant Dave mother's without whom this
00:58:30
podcast would not have been possible thank you to detective miles Williamson autumn Turnage and Contra Costa County
00:58:37
DA cold-case investigator Paul hulls for sharing your wealth of knowledge Thank You Jon q and Sarah for sharing
00:58:43
your stories if you or someone you know has any information regarding the murder
00:58:50
of Eric coy please contact your local law enforcement office the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office the Martinez
00:58:56
Police Department or the FBI tip line contact information for all of those departments will be in the show notes
00:59:12
[Music] you