Victims' families endure as killings go unsolved
July 9, 2009
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| Still waiting: Dr. Steve Price, left, still calls to check on the case involving his son Daniel’s murder. Anyone with information about a killing can call (415) 553-1145, or the anonymous tip line at (415) 575-4444. (Courtesy photo) |
SAN FRANCISCO — In what’s become a cheerless holiday tradition, Dr. Steve Price phones San Francisco homicide inspectors each December and asks if they are any closer to finding his son’s killer.
The answer has always been no.
His son, 28-year-old artist Daniel Price, was slain Dec. 19, 2003, in front of his Cow Hollow apartment. Daniel was escorting his wife, Sarah, home from a Christmas party before heading to another. After Sarah left the cab, she was confronted by a man trying to break into the couple’s home. Daniel ran to his wife’s aid, and the man shot him in the head.
Like all killings, the crime severed a lifetime of promises. Price was a newlywed whose star in the art world was beginning to rise. He and his wife were planning a trip home to New Orleans for the holidays, and it would have been their first Christmas as a married couple.
While the brutality and randomness of the slaying shocked The City, the odds of catching the killer seemed high. Both Sarah and a motorist the man tried to carjack gave descriptions to police. Tips poured in from the public, and a camera in the cab reportedly captured an image that was given to police.
San Francisco police have kept the case open for five years. Daniel’s story was featured on “America’s Most Wanted.” A suspect sketch was released.
Despite all of that, the case remains unsolved.
“Each year I call around Christmas time when Daniel was killed,” said Price, a New Orleans physician. “They say they’re working on it but they have no leads. It’s disheartening.”
Price said he has no qualms with the detectives who have handled his son’s case, and he has focused much of his energy into celebrating Daniel’s creative spirit. Scholarships in Daniel’s name have been set up for promising art students. His paintings are frequently shown in venues around New Orleans.
“He lives so vibrantly in my mind and so creatively all over town,” Price said. “We still feel his vibrant spirit here.”
Still, Price can’t shake the nagging worry that the man who killed Daniel could hurt someone else.
“You’d like to get someone like that off the streets,” he said.
It’s a sentiment echoed by countless families of unsolved-homicide victims. In San Francisco, where less than half the killings since 2001 have resulted in an arrest, loved ones cling to the hope that someone will come forward with information.
In the first half of 2009, San Francisco’s homicide rate fell to a nine-year low as police concentrated resources in The City’s most violent areas. Through June 30 of this year, San Francisco police reported 25 homicides, down from 52 at the same time in 2008.
But for the previous five years, it was a very different story as homicides soared and police clearance rates of homicides remained dismal. And as the trend continued, families without answers grew into a grim but sizable club. In 2008, there were 97 murders. Only 26 percent of them resulted in an arrest. In 2007, killings reached a decade-high of 98. A little more than a quarter of them were solved. The average clearance rate for similarly-sized cities is 52 percent, according to statistics kept by the FBI.
Like Price, Wanda Elston channeled her grief into positive action. But after five years, she has little faith her 15-year-old grandnephew’s killer will be put away.
Scharod Fleming, a popular Mission High School basketball player, was gunned down Jan. 18, 2004, as he left a hip-hop party at the Central YMCA in the Tenderloin. Police told Elston they had a suspect but lacked the evidence to make an arrest. The dance was thrown by an underground party promoter who had staged events linked to four deaths since 1996.
After Elston tirelessly lobbied local lawmakers, San Francisco passed “Scharod’s Law,” which increased security at dance halls and stiffened penalties for lawless promoters.
It’s gratifying to know the law, which Elston is working to pass on the state level, has prevented other deaths, but realizing Scharod’s killer is free is painful, she said.
Elston takes comfort in the many lives Scharod touched. At The City’s gay pride event last month, Elston watched as singer Ira Levi performed his song inspired by Scharod, “Let the Children Dance.”
“He was a good kid. The family still hurts real bad, every time we think about it,” she said. “I think [the police] should have took the time to investigate it more. There’s way, way too many unsolved homicides.”
The biggest impediment to cracking the unsolved cases is a lack of eyewitnesses coming forward, San Francisco Police Department Deputy Police Chief David Shinn said.
“We receive numerous telephone calls regarding homicides that have occurred, however, these are usually third-party individuals whose information would not be accepted in a court of law,” Shinn said. “We need eyewitnesses to come forward to identify suspects and testify in court.
Shinn acknowledged that the department has cases in which investigators know the identities of the suspects.
“We don’t have enough evidence or witnesses to present the case in a court of law,” he said. “In these circumstances, the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office has been consulted and they make the final determination if we have enough to arrest and take the case to court.”
Erica Derryk, spokeswoman for District Attorney Kamala Harris said the Price and Fleming cases, and third case of Adam Brodsky have not been brought to the District Attorney’s Office for review.
“We are in the business of prosecuting criminals so victims and their families can have closure and the justice they deserve. It is deeply frustrating for everyone in the law enforcement community when someone who commits a crime is not held accountable. We work with victims’ families every day to provide them with support and services regardless of whether or not there is a case being prosecuted because we know they need help,” Derryk said.
In the case of Adam Brodsky, killed in a June 11, 2004, home invasion, police focused on several of his associates, but never made an arrest, said his mother, Pam Brodsky. A person of interest was cleared of involvement after passing a lie detector test.
Brodsky has grown close to the inspector investigating her son’s fatal shooting, but he is planning to leave the department, and Brodsky fears Adam’s case will be forever lost.
“He told me Adam’s file will be on his desk until he leaves. Well, he’s leaving. I would like someone to be honest with me and tell me if they’re putting his case in a box in the basement,” she said.
She goes over the case in her mind, wondering why a sketch wasn’t released if Adam’s girlfriend saw the two intruders, why Adam’s cell phone and computer weren’t examined, and why two of his former friends
immediately hired attorneys.
“I feel like everything is still very, very loose. And one way or another, it would be nice to have closure,” she said.
Police investigate killings until all investigative leads have been exhausted, all evidence examined and all witnesses interviewed, Shinn said.
“If an inspector is transferred, promoted or retires, the case is transferred to another inspector or inactivated,” he said. “If new leads are developed, a witness contacts the unit with information, a family member of the victim requests that the case be reviewed, or a new process to examine evidence is developed, the case is reactivated and reviewed by the cold-case unit.”
The 2-year-old homicide cold-case unit, staffed with two inspectors, has solved 15 to 20 cases, according to Shinn.
Never finding justice for a loved one’s murder is something no family should endure, he agreed.
“It destroys them,” he said. “However, we have had some success with some of our cases when the family and friends reach out into the community and convince witnesses to come forward. It should not be acceptable for a community to be held captive by a minority of cowards and bullies. The message we want to send out to all San Franciscans is to treat these situations as if it impacted a member of their family, and please bring the information forward.”
San Francisco’s unsolved mysteries
Immigrant store owner shot in robbery
Killed: Aug. 19, 2006
To people in the Richmond district, Jinsun “Lilly” Lee was the ever-present, smiling face behind the counter at the New California Food Market.
On Aug. 19, 2006, a customer entered the store to find Lee slumped over at her post. She had been shot in an apparent robbery, and died at a nearby hospital. If there were witnesses, they never came forward.
The store’s security camera reportedly broke two weeks before the killing.
Residents of the quiet neighborhood were heartbroken. They piled cards and flowers in front of the market at 19th Avenue and California Street.
Police say the probe into who killed the hardworking Korean immigrant is still active.
Dad gunned down outside daughter’s basketball game
Killed: Jan. 12, 2008
Despite a $250,000 reward offered by Mayor Gavin Newsom, no one has come forward with information to solve Terrell “Terray” Rogers’ murder case.
Rogers, a 39-year-old father and anti-violence activist, was shot multiple times by two men during his daughter’s basketball game. Police say someone apparently targeted Rogers as he walked across the street from Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory during halftime.
Rogers, who grew up in Bayview-Hunter’s Point and lived in Pacifica, was the director and co-founder of Peacekeepers, a nonprofit dedicated to combating violence in San Francisco. His own father was a murdered community activist and the neighborhood’s Adam Rogers Park is named for him.
Though the shooting happened just after 8 p.m. in a well-lit parking lot, the two men who shot Rogers have never been identified.
Innocent victim of stray bullet
Killed: April 27, 1990
Nearly two decades have passed since 15-year-old Tenisha Hardy was gunned down on a Western Addition street.
Tenisha and a friend were walking south on Webster Street near Fulton Street. A group of young men had gathered on the corner. Two shots rang out and Tenisha collapsed onto the sidewalk. Police say she was the innocent victim of a stray bullet from an altercation involving the young men.
Shortly after the incident, a $20,000 reward was offered by The City. It has since increased to $250,000.
Cab driver killed in Mission
Killed: Aug. 4, 2002
Sukhpal Singh and his family came to the U.S. to find success, but were met with brutality. Singh, 50, was behind the wheel of his cab in the Mission district when someone shot him Aug. 4, 2002 just before 4 a.m. Singh crashed into a power pole before his car burst into flames. He left behind a wife and children in India.
Singh’s brother was killed a few days after the Sept. 11 attacks in a hate crime in his Arizona gas station.
Young woman beaten, dumped
Killed: Dec. 2, 2005
At first, police believed Sandy Young, 34 committed suicide. Young was found floating in the Bay near Treasure Island on Dec. 2, 2005. Her car, a silver Scion, was found parked on Yerba Buena Island the previous day.
But an autopsy revealed the San Pablo woman had been hit repeatedly on the head before her body was tossed into the Bay. Investigators later learned Young’s keys were missing, and found a bloody, broken bottle near her car.
There is a $100,000 reward for information leading to Young’s killer. Police say they have followed all possible leads, and the investigation is ongoing.
— Tamara Barak Aparton
