Unsolved Valley crimes of 2012

We took a look back at the unsolved crimes of 2012. Families and police are asking for your help to uncover and solve them in 2013.

In late spring, family and friends faced the loss of a Palm Springs teen, 16-year-old Zia Hoyos.

Early in the morning on May 21, police discovered Zia’s body on Gene Autry Trail just north of vista chino.
The driver that hit her never stopped and is still on the run.

“She was not alone. They know who they were. Somebody left her out here. She would not have been walking on Gene Autry by herself,” said Senta Flores, Zia’s mother.

“You guys need to turn yourself in. You’re going to have to live with this for the rest of your life,” she added.

Police say they have few leads in the case.

On September 10, 16-year-old Grant Virgin of Palm Desert was run over and left for dead in a hit-and-run crash.
The teen was walking home along Deep Canyon Road when a woman hit him with her car, stopped to check the damage to her car, and then drove off.

Grant was left in a coma. Some doctors warned he wouldn’t survive.
However, he’s now talking, and determined to get better, but he’s got a long road ahead.

“He will never be the same person that he was. He will never be that person but that doesn’t mean that the person that he will be, won’t be a wonderful person,” said Grant’s father, John Virgin.

“He is healing way faster than anyone else of a similar caliber of an injury has and I wouldn’t expect anything less of him. That is kind of how he’s always been,” said Grant’s brother, Bryce Virgin.

A testimony of his recovery, Grant’s mom JJ Virgin shared a picture on Facebook of the teen who was home from the hospital for the day over the weekend.

He got a haircut with his dad and brother Bryce in Palm Desert. Grant’s mom says he is just days away until he’s home to stay.

Investigators have yet to find the woman who hit Grant. She’s described as a Hispanic woman, 30 years old, 5’6, 150 pounds, with shoulder length black hair. The woman was last seen driving a white compact car.

Police are also searching for those responsible for shooting a Twentynine Palms Marine in the head on December 5. It happened near the intersection of Indian Canyon and 20th Avenue. Corporal Craig Maddy, 21, is now hospitalized in critical condition.

He was celebrating a birthday with some fellow Marines, when they had an altercation with another group at a Palm Springs bar. Eventually that altercation went mobile and a light colored SUV followed the Marines to Desert Hot Springs, where he was shot.

Maddy returned from Afghanistan in October.

“I realize that the perpetrator being brought to justice wont make my son wake up won’t make him be able to recognize me but it will help me because right now I am so scared that that person is out there on the street and this is going to happen to some other Marine’s mom,” said his mother Vandi Frame.

No arrests have been made in any of these crimes.

If you know anything about them, call Valley Crimestoppers at 760-341-STOP. Tips remain anonymous and you could receive a cash reward.