Post by Scumhunter on Jun 2, 2014 9:47:30 GMT -5
When the Juan Lopez murder went down in 2007, Lancaster city Detective George Bonilla was assigned to the case.
Last year, when Bonilla went to work as a detective for Lancaster County, he asked permission to take the case with him because it still was open.
That request was granted.
Six years after it happened, Lopez’s slaying has not been solved.
Lopez didn’t worry much about the possibility of a robbery at his business, because he loved and trusted his community.
He should have been worried, however, because two armed bandits entered his store, stole $93,000 in cash and fatally shot him. The store had so much cash on hand because it was the beginning of the month, when customers were buying money orders to pay their rent, according to Lopez’s family.
Video surveillance cameras caught the entire crime on tape, but the two robbers wore black ski masks and dark clothing and could not be identified.
They have never been identified.
Nothing solid
“This case has had its ups and downs,” Bonilla said. “But there’s been nothing solid that we can bring people in and actually question them. We knew from the beginning it would be pretty tough.”
Bonilla has appeared on an episode of the television show “America’s Most Wanted.” The show highlighted the case in the hope that it would generate some tips.
“We didn’t get any leads from that,” Bonilla said. “Sometimes people said crazy stuff, like they knew something, but it had no bearing on this case whatsoever.”
Perhaps it was just a coincidence the robbers showed up when there was so much cash in the store, or maybe they knew exactly what they were doing.
Months before the killing, the Lopezes’ home on Fieldstead Lane was burglarized. Someone broke in through the garage and stole everything of obvious value, including an $1,800 flat-screen TV, a laptop computer and jewelry belonging to Lopez’s wife, Raquel. No other houses in the neighborhood were hit, just the unassuming brick ranch house
A neighbor believes she saw the thieves. She told Raquel Lopez, after the burglary, that several Hispanic men were sitting in a car across from her home the day of the burglary. One of the men had a tattoo on his neck, the neighbor told her, and a large earring.
“I should have called the police,” said the neighbor, who still lives in the same house. “But I thought to myself, ‘Am I stereotyping because they’re Hispanic?’ But something just didn’t fit.”
She said they were acting like they were working on their car, fixing a tire.
“But it was taking way too long, from about 11 to about 1,” said the neighbor, who did not want her name used because she fears the men might target her.
At one point, one of the men looked in her direction.
“He had a shiny gold front tooth. I could see it from here.”
Eventually, she stopped watching the men. Several hours later, she spotted police cruisers outside her neighbor’s home. She went over to volunteer her information.
But that was her only contact with the police, and the burglary was never solved. Even after the robbery and killing, she said no police officers ever came back to interview her.
Bonilla said he does not believe the burglary and the killing are connected.
“Houses get burglarized,” Bonilla said. “There was nothing solid to put it together.”
But there was something else, too. Something the police were not told.
In the months between the burglary at her house and the robbery at the store, Raquel Lopez sometimes had the feeling she was being followed.
“I can’t say I exactly knew, and I didn’t put two and two together, but I just had that sense that from time to time someone was watching me,” she said.
Crime scene
Lopez’s daughter, Kristi Colon, was the only person in the family to view the crime scene. Police asked her to go back the day after the killing so she could reset the alarm system.
“It was horrific,” she recalled. “There was blood everywhere. There was a new Canon copier. It was smothered in blood,” Colon said. “I found Juan’s glasses, with the ear piece broken off, covered in blood. I found a five-dollar bill on the floor. It was smothered in blood.”
Bonilla said, “I probably thought that I would have this solved this case years ago. Often you rely on other individuals to talk about it in the community. Sometimes you get lucky and those individuals involved talk to people.”
The police said they know the robbers are Hispanic. They know that one is light-skinned. They know one is taller than average, the other shorter. They know they were young, perhaps in their teens or early 20s. But with full masks over their faces and not many leads, that seems to be about all they know.
Two years after the shooting, Juan’s sister, Cruz Ramirez, said she was walking home from her job and looked up to see a man intently staring at her. It made her uncomfortable and his stare made the hair stand up on her arms. She broke her gaze and looked down. But not before she noticed he had a tattoo, like a necklace, around his neck.
“You still wake up and sometimes say to yourself, what could I do to help solve this?” Bonilla said. “I’m not going to let my faith go or my hope go. I have a feeling that it might get solved one day. Its been my goal since Day One, so he can rest in peace and the family can have some peace of mind.
“But it’s not one of those cases that you have enough to put the clinch on it.”
lancasteronline.com/lancaster/news/detective-still-hopes-to-solve-case/article_d4ec4d60-e8fe-11e3-94f9-001a4bcf6878.html
web.archive.org/web/20100207035337/http://www.amw.com/fugitives/brief.cfm?id=71054
Thoughts? Unfortunately there seems to be not a lot to go on. I think what solves this case will be someone who actually knows something (not a crazy tipster) coming forward. However, the Lopez family does seem to have the perfect Detective for their case, as Bonilla appears determined to not give up.
Admin Note #1: Based on crime location, our advice for anyone with information would be to call the Lancaster Police Department. Their phone number is (717) 735-3300
Admin Note #2: If you have any news-related updates on this case, please contact us here: amwfans.com/thread/1662/website-contact-form
