Police asking for more cooperation from the public to solve murders
In a murder investigation, every second counts. That why it’s imperative for any person that may have information that can lead to an arrest should be brought forward as soon as possible.
But according to police, one local business held out until KESQ/CBS Local 2 got involved.
The Cathedral City Police Department has been investigating the murder of 22-year-old Robert Yerena. He was gunned down on Ramon Road near Landau Blvd on Sunday night. He was driving when someone pulled up next to him and shot him through the door of his car.
Many businesses have cameras that face the street. Including a smoke shop that gave police the video as soon as CCPD asked for it. The shooting happened right in front of a U-Haul Moving and Storage of Cathedral City. The business has several cameras that face the street, and police wanted to take a look at the footage. But according to police, the company was giving them the run around and representatives with U-Haul told the police it could take up to 8 days to release the footage that could show the suspects vehicle.
That’s when we stepped in. We sent CBS Local 2 morning anchor Tom Tucker with cameras rolling to ask some questions.
“Does the business plan to hand this surveillance footage over to the police, do you know anything about this?” Tucker asked the employee working behind the counter.
“Yes I do know about this, and I have left messages with the police department,” said the employee to Tucker before asking Tom Tucker and our camera man to leave the store.
“That is not accurate,” said Lt. Glen Haas with CCPD.
According to Haas, the police department has no records of anyone calling the department from the U-Haul. But within an hour of our news team going into the U-Haul the police had the video in hand. That’s 191 hours sooner than U-Haul said they could get it to the police.
Now the video is being processed and enhanced and hopefully they’ll have a positive ID on the suspects car. Cathedral City Police told us they are having a hard time getting people to come forward with information on shootings and murders.
“We have detectives that are working around the clock trying to locate the suspects of unsolved murders at this point, one that have happened just a couple of months, and without the public’s assistance there is only so much that we can do,” said Lt. Haas.
That other unsolved murder was the shooting near Candy Cane Lane that killed a father, wounded a mother, and killed their unborn child. But that’s not all. The family of 19-year-old Anthony Carlos Baltazar held a candle light vigil on Friday, a year from the day the young man was killed on Baristo Road in Cathedral City. His murder is also unsolved.
“There is no closure yet, but I know it’s in the Lords hands, so we have to do the best to go by his faith,” said Tania Perez, Baltazar’s mother.
This family is torn apart that no one has come forward with the right information to lead to an arrest.
“There is never going to be any closure if someone doesn’t speak up and say anything,” said Perez.
If you have any information on any of these unsolved murders is asked to contact the Cathedral City Police Department at 760 770-0313.
