Two full-time detectives assigned to unsolved killings

BY DAWN HOBBS

Kym Morgan, Esther Bueno Taboada, and Frank Gomez: Their killers are still at large.

Since the killing of Ramona Price in 1961, 19 others have literally gotten away with murder in Santa Barbara.

Despite dogged police work, the trails on these homicides ran cold. Fresh slayings pushed them aside.

Now that is changing. Santa Barbara Police Chief Cam Sanchez has just formed a Cold Case Unit that combines fresh eyes and advanced forensic, fingerprinting and firearms technology to crack the murders that stumped the original investigators.

The creation of the unit mirrors a nationwide trend in law enforcement prompted by rapidly advancing technology. Techniques not previously available, such as DNA typing, are enabling homicide detectives across the country to close the books on cases once considered unsolvable.

The Santa Barbara chief has assigned two full-time homicide detectives to hunt down these 22 killers and bring them to justice. Many fled across the country or into Mexico. Such may be the case with the killer of Esther Taboada, a 26-year-old mother of two who was stabbed to death in the Sears parking lot on Dec. 28, 1992. Police suspect her husband, Mario Soto Taboada, and believe he fled to Mexico the same night.

It takes a special kind of investigator to work these cold cases: Someone with extensive homicide experience and limitless perseverance and tenacity. Someone tough enough to hunt down dangerous killers. And compassionate enough to deal with the victims' families, who just can't seem to move on. The chief chose Detectives Tim Roberts and Greg Wilkins for this weighty task.

The Cold Case Unit detectives recently sent letters to some victims' families informing them they'd once again aggressively look into the killings of their loved ones.

"The detectives have received responses that would bring tears to your eyes," Chief Sanchez said. "They are just so grateful that we have not forgotten these victims."

The chief personally knows the importance of closing the book on these cases — a member of his family was murdered 20 years ago.

"I really appreciated the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department working on the case for so many years until they solved it," said Chief Sanchez. "It didn't bring my cousin's husband back, but it brought us some closure."

Now, he wants to give some closure to these victims' families.

"I'm an old homicide detective and I've worked plenty of murders," he said. "I've even worked cold cases — which I think is a misnomer. I call them cases that are about to be solved."

BOOK 'EM

An average of about one in four slayings in the city goes unsolved. Of the 45 homicides that occurred in Santa Barbara from 1990 to 2002, 10 cases remain unsolved. That percentage falls significantly lower than the national average of 35 percent. A case is considered cleared when there is an arrest and conviction.

Of the 22 unsolved homicides in Santa Barbara, police suspect two were committed by serial killers. Six of the suspected killers fled to Mexico. In seven, detectives have suspects, but not enough evidence to arrest them.

Detectives Roberts and Wilkins have their work cut out for them. But over the years, Detective Roberts has tracked several criminals to Mexico and arrested them. Detective Wilkins is an expert polygraph operator.

"It is one thing to read crime novels, or read about murders in the paper," said Detective Wilkins, who has been with the department 20 years. "But it is something yet again to be responsible for the case and be up close and personal with all aspects of what occurred. It is like nothing else in law enforcement.

"And when the perpetrator of a murder is caught, and they tell you their most deepest darkest secret in the entire world, something they would not want to tell anyone — but they tell you — then all the hard work, the long hours, the emotional roller coaster becomes very satisfying.

"Homicide investigation is the granddaddy of them all. The Super Bowl of Crime Fighting. And you'd better be ready on game day — because there may be no tomorrow."

The two detectives have moved stacks of "murder books" from the major crimes bureau to a private room in the back of the Figueroa Street police station, where they'll spend the next several years poring through the case files.

The approach to handling cold cases in Santa Barbara has gone through several changes. Prior to 1980, the "murder books" were stored in boxes stacked in closets. That changed in 1981, when Nick Katzenstein was promoted to sergeant of the major crimes bureau.

"I didn't want these things in the closet any more," he said. "I actually bought a cabinet with my own money and put sliding glass doors on it so the names of the victims could be visible. I wanted to bring them out of the dark." Then, in the late '80s, when he returned from another assignment to the bureau as a lieutenant, Mr. Katzenstein gave each case to an investigator and developed a protocol for review.

"I look back and I feel real good about having been part of how this all evolved," said the retired lieutenant. "If there's a case that can be solved, Roberts and Wilkins will go after it. These cases are in good hands."

The two detectives will prioritize cases based on how much evidence still exists. They'll look for latent fingerprints that can be run through better developed databases. And they'll send preserved blood samples, hair strands or saliva to the Department of Justice laboratory for advanced DNA typing, as in the Gomez case, where they will submit a hair sample for analysis. Mr. Gomez, whose brother is a policeman, was found stabbed to death Jan. 30, 1995, behind the ticket office of the Santa Barbara Bowl.

The detectives will track down and re-interview witnesses, friends and relatives, which can sometimes add up to more than 100 for a single case. And they'll run extensive background checks on those who were once considered potential suspects to see what they've been up to since the homicide.

"I can only imagine if someone in my family was murdered. I would certainly want detectives to work the case until they put the bad guy in jail — until justice is served," said Detective Roberts, who has been with the agency 23 years.

He is positive they'll solve at least some of these cases.

"And it's not just a confidence thing — it's true," he said. "People will be going to jail from this."

IN SEARCH OF CLUES

Sometimes there are no witnesses and no physical evidence. And that's why a murder can go unsolved.

"The ones where there is a relationship between the suspect and the victim are easier to solve than a stranger murder because there is no connection there," said Capt. Ed Szeyller, who oversees the police department's investigative division.

"Basically, on any type of murder, we first look at people the victim is associated with, like family, a spouse, roommates. If they somehow change their day or routine, you can focus on them. But in a stranger murder, you have no idea who to focus on."

It complicates matters when the victim is killed at one location and the body dumped in another.

Such was the case with Kym Morgan, the 24-year-old Brooks Institute student who was abducted on the Mesa on April 28, 1985. Four days later her dismembered body was found strewn along an embankment off East Camino Cielo in the mountains.

"You don't have any idea where to go — so you have to backtrack where that person has been over the last 24 to 48 hours. You have to find everyone they associated with and start interviewing them," said Capt. Szeyller.

Even when detectives have a murder scene, they must act quickly — before evidence deteriorates.

"The vast majority of murders are solved in the first 48 hours," said Capt. Szeyller. "That's the reason why we blitz it in the beginning. You have to run with it as fast as you can... No one stays home."

The first 48 hours are also critical because suspects are more likely to flee.

"We've actually been able to arrest suspects the following day," he said. "Once you determine who a suspect is, it takes a lot of people to locate him while another group is putting warrants together."

The chief started talking about forming a cold case unit about a year ago, Capt. Szeyller said.

"Given the improvements in technology and that we have a significant number of unsolved cases, the chief decided we needed to have a unit of people who do nothing more than work unsolved homicides," he said.

With constant technological advances, DNA evidence should be tested as frequently as possible, he said. In fact, Sgt. Don Knapp recently solved a 23-year-old case by doing just that. Beverly West, 41, was found naked and strangled in her East de la Guerra Street apartment on Oct. 16, 1979.

Craig Nicholas Clark, who at the time was an 18-year-old neighbor of the victim, allegedly admitted to relatives in 1990 that he killed Ms. West. That year police got a search warrant to obtain a blood sample from Mr. Clark. However, DNA test results then, and in 1997 during retesting, were not conclusive to convince prosecutors to file charges.

But late last year, advances in DNA technology resulted in a conclusive match between Mr. Clark's blood and semen found on the woman's body and a pair of panties. Sgt. Knapp arrested Mr. Clark in January at his home in Everett, Wash. He is awaiting trial.

Even though it was 1 a.m., the sergeant called Donna Walters and told her about the arrest. Mrs. Walters had been waiting to finally put a tombstone on her sister's grave. She did so two weeks later.

"We started the unit because there is no other crime that we deal with that is more important than a murder case," Capt. Szeyller said. "You just cannot forget the victims' families... You can't believe how much blame victims' families place on themselves for someone being murdered. But when there's an arrest, they usually realize that no matter what they did, they weren't going to be able to stop this.

"A lot of solving a case takes away that blame. It's incumbent upon us to give them this closure — because if we don't, no one else is going to."

e-mail: dhobbs@newspress.com