Indio family pleads for justice
An Indio family is making a plea for help to the community. The man who shot and killed Isela Duran remains on the run nearly eleven months after her death. Police responded to a report of gunfire at 9:20 PM on Wednesday July 11, 2012. They found Duran at the 46700 block of Daisy street. Paramedics took her to JFK Memorial Hospital in Indio where Duran died. She was 45. “My heart just stopped,” said Michelle Duran, Isela’s daughter. “I felt like I lost a part of me.”
Witnesses say the suspect, a hispanic man, about 18 years old, with a large tattoo on his chest, got away. Duran left behind a husband, five kids, and eight grandchildren. “She was our heart,” said Marissa Flores. “She was our laughter. She was everything to us.”
Things some of the grandchildren may never remember, except through songs they sing about her. Now, almost a year later, the family wants to change the tune. They want justice. “It’ll be a relief for us once it’s all said and done,” said Marissa Flores. “And we know that this person is behind bars.”
The case remains open, it also remains unsolved. “They have been working leads as they come in,” said Commander Hank Peeters from the Indio Police Department. “And we haven’t had anybody recently come in with any new information.”
Duran’s family is pleading with the community to come forward if they have any information. “When things happen so close to home, it hurts more, because you go down the street and you see a little shrine down here,” said Jose Flores, Isela’s husband.
Duran was shot just a block from her home. It’s a walk her family makes often to leave flowers and pray. But, vandals continue to disrespect her memory.
“It has to be replaced every time somebody’s kicking my Mom’s memorial,” said Flores. “And it’s not fair for us and it’s like what are you kicking it for?”
It’s a question they want answered, but more importantly they want to know who pulled the trigger.
“We’re not going to rest until we find out, and we get what we want,” said Michelle Duran.
If you have any information, you are asked to call 760-341-STOP.
