Leticia’s daughter, however, had been shot, so the family had already made their way to the hospital. Higher means more crime, U.S. average is 274.0. And the bulletins said police were looking for the man she loved, Dr. R. Bernard Finch. A Murder in West Covina book. WEST COVINA, CALIFORNIA, A rare rain was beginning as I parked my car near the West Covina Library. Police believed Bruce might have planning on also murdering Scott, who resided over their “somewhat contentious proceeding.”. He pulled her around the back of the car, then up to the passenger door. As I reached the library entrance the damp circles on the sidewalk had joined into one long, clear, shimmering film, pushing to the walkway’s edges.

Reading the book “A Murder in West Covina” was not easy for me. Shortly after the doorbell sounded, police received 911 calls from the Ortega’s neighbor.

Eva was a year older than Lyle. There was a 9mm pistol in Bruce’s lap, and there was a second 9mm on the floor.

This is what he’s done. The Chrysler’s motor was still running. Welcome back.

She was alone.

He did not go back to his house where his twenty-two-year-old, red-haired lover was waiting behind a thick bougainvillea plant.

When his divorce was finalized shortly before the holiday, the spousal support ended up being waived as at the time he had lost his job. During the ‘sixties a ripple of blue- and white-collar workers settled into the many housing tracts that replaced the groves. But Bruce didn’t realize there was an open flame somewhere inside the house, which led to an explosion that left him horrifically burned.

One lieutenant said, “When I arrived, to describe it as apocalyptic would be accurate.”. The only Ortega family members police could locate was Leticia, who had managed to escape the fire with her husband and 8-year-old daughter and make it to a neighbor’s house. The Ortegas, Joseph and Alice, loved Christmas, and it was their favorite time of the year to spend time with their two oldest sons, James and Charles, and their daughters Leticia, Alicia and Sylvia. Her bloodied left hand was on top of the car, trying to hold back, leaving wavy streaks of red, but the man was too strong. On Christmas Day, police also interviewed Leticia, who said that despite the Santa Claus costume, beard and hat, she could identify the shooter: her sister’s ex-husband, Bruce Pardo. In the ‘seventies large numbers of Hispanics migrated into the area, and in the ‘eighties a wave of Asians. And, as she talked, I listened to the Cardinal. He has done the difficult part, to pull out the most vital parts of the trials. Good-looking, with big, brown eyes and dark, curly hair, he was known as a “charmer” and usually had his way. There he was in the varsity tennis photograph. I searched Eva’s book for any hint of the future. The book was carefully tended, without a single tear.

On the “Characteristics” page, the signer was to choose a trait best describing him, then put his name in the blank next to it. Do you have information to share about the life of Jonathan Echevarria? One police officer called the crime scene "apocalyptic.". Police didn’t think their deaths were purely coincidence, and they believed their suspect was still at large. Two men were charged with murder Thursday in connection with the disappearance of a firefighter from West Covina whose remains were apparently burned after he was killed during a … It adjusts for the number of visitors and daily workers commuting into cities. by Chaparral, A Murder in West Covina: Chronicle of the Finch-Tregoff Case. the Preliminary Hearings, and She was sitting sideways now, her feet on the garage floor. The City-Data.com crime index weighs serious crimes and violent crimes more heavily. But in 1959 West Covina was a farming community of less than eight thousand people. Bruce’s getaway car was also parked about 500 feet from the house of Scott Nord, Sylvia’s divorce attorney.

WEST COVINA >> Detectives arrested two men and dismantled a large-scale drug distribution ring operating out of a home in an affluent West Covina neighborhood on Wednesday afternoon, authorities said. The governess ran toward her mistress. It makes me feel like he was there with us. West Cameron Avenue & West Garvey Avenue North. November's Most Anticipated Young Adult Reads.

Looking into Bruce’s past, investigators discovered he had an ex-wife named Sylvia Ortiz, whose divorce from Bruce was finalized on December 18, 2008 — just a few days before the holiday.

I shuffled my shoes on a mat and entered.

To hear more about the Covina massacre case, listen to episode 49 of our Martinis & Murder podcast. According to our research of California and other state lists, there were 108 registered sex offenders living in West Covina, California as of November 05, 2020.

And she was sure he was going to kill her.

Blood was coming from wounds on her cheek and temple. Other informants told me Bernard had announced he was planning to be the richest man in the valley and was choosing medicine as the way to do it. Will Dr. Finch take the truth with him when he one day leaves this earth, or will he tell it before? Hours later, the woman who had waited for him was driving east, up the Cajon Pass, to an apartment in Las Vegas, two hundred miles ahead.

He ran the opposite way, not knowing what he was going to do. The Homicide Report needs your help.

The light in the garage was out. She knew his family well; they had one of the larger farms in the area.

“You go back to the house and wait for me there.” Patti ran back and locked the patio door behind her; she stood watching. Published in the United States by Chaparral. We’d love your help. Her ability to see and remember was soon to be tested in one of the most publicized crimes of the century.

During his Christmas Eve killing spree, Bruce pulled out a homemade flamethrower to spray 18 gallons of gasoline into the house once he ran out of bullets. Do you have information to share about the life of Anthony Zepeda? Her glasses clattered onto the concrete floor. Instead driving to kill Sylvia’s attorney, Bruce then went to his brother’s, where he killed himself because of how badly he was burned.

The reel whirled to Monday, July 20, 1959.