June 25, 2023 • 64 mins
Case #1: Two guys were sitting in a car in Compton, CA watching a street takeover. Officials say they were not participants and had no apparent connection to the takeover, but on November 14th, 2021, someone pulled up, got out of a vehicle and opened fire on the two young men killing them on the spot. Dozens of casings were recovered from the scene but ‘no one saw anything’. Officials have offered a $40,000 reward for the arrest and conviction of the shooter. Case #2: An 8-year Army veteran returns from three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan only to be gunned down on April 21st, 2021, in front his brother’s home in Lancaster, CA. At first, investigators thought there was a gang connection, but the 30-year-old veteran was about to graduate from college, marry his high school sweetheart and start a new life. Officials have offered a $20,000 reward in this case.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:13):
On any given day in southern California, hundreds of investigators are working more than
ten thousand unsolved cases. That's thousandsof friends and families who have lost loved
ones, thousands of people who gotaway with a crime, and thousands of
murderers who still walk the streets.Killers who may be your neighbor, go
to your church, or could bedating a close friend. For the next
(00:39):
two hours will highlight cases that havegone cold, baffled investigators, or just
needs that one witness to speak up. This is unsolved with Steve Gregory,
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department homicide casenumber zero two one DASH one two nine
(01:03):
five eight DASH two eight two fivezero one one the murders of nineteen year
old Javierra Minchaka and twenty two yearold one of Roscoe. We got a
call from Homicide Detective Sergeant Mike Austin. He works in the Active Cases bullpen
(01:23):
inside Homicide Bureau, which is inMonterey Park. This is our first case
with Detective Austin. He said hehad a double murder involving two guys who
were friends and we're sitting in theircar on the evening of November fourteenth,
twenty twenty one, in the Cityof Compton. Detective Austin breaks down the
case of the street takeover execution.It was a Saturday night into Sunday.
(01:46):
There was a street takeover near theintersection of Pine and Bullets in the City
of Compton and deputies were dispatched tothat location to break up the illegal street
takeover that was taking place at thattime. And actually a deputy had staged
(02:07):
a couple of blocks south of wherethis takeover was occurring, and during that
time there were shots fired. Thedeputy waited for an additional backup to roll
in and so as they rolled in, it was mass chaos. Basically,
people were just dispersing and going everywhere. There's two to three hundred people minimum
(02:32):
at this takeover. The deputies weredirected to a vehicle that was parked in
the middle of the street on Bullis, just south of the Pine intersection.
The vehicle was actually facing north,but it was in the number one southbound
lane because the cars had basically blockedthe entire street. As they approached,
(02:58):
people were running everywhere. They foundtwo individuals, Wanna Rosco and Javier Menchaka,
in a vehicle and they had beenbasically shot to death. So when
you say deputies were directed to thiscar, who directed them? As they
were approaching, there were witnesses saying, hey, over there, someone's been
(03:20):
shot. Okay, So that tellsyou right out of the shoot someone witnessed
the shoot. Absolutely. So thisis a case of the street takeovers now,
and this is one of the thingsthat I know law ENFORCEMTH Sheriff Department,
police departments have been battling with onsomething like this. Based on your
experience, Sergeant, a shooting ata street takeover is at common or uncommon,
(03:43):
it's becoming more common over the lastseveral years. Unfortunately, I don't
know the statistics, but I doknow that there are multiple cases under investigation
within our bureau that involved or havesomething to do with being in proximity to
a near go street takeover. Sowhen you get the call and you roll
up, what was the first thingyou saw it? And it kind of
(04:04):
walk us through that and paint thepicture. So as I arrived, I
was home sleeping, I get thephone call and so I got there some
time between three and three thirty inthe morning, and as I arrived,
it's already taped off the intersections aretaped off. There's deputies, you know,
everywhere around and I contact the handlingdeputy who basically gives me and my
(04:29):
partner an overview of what they havethere. And there's basically the victim's vehicle
as I described earlier, it's it'sfacing north in the number one southbound lane
of Bullets just south of Pine.That was the intersection that the racing was
going on. And there was anindividual who seated in the right front passenger
(04:53):
seat, one A Roscoe. Hehad been shot multiple times in his upper
body. And then the apparent driverof the vehicle was actually laying partially out
of the vehicle with a leg stillinside on the driver's floorboard of the vehicle,
and he had been shot in theupper body and was deceased. Okay,
(05:15):
So when you unpack this kind ofthing and you walk up to a
scene like this, first of all, what kind of an area are we
talking about here at the intersection ofBullis and Pine? Pine? Is that
industrial? Was it? So?Residential? Bullis is a north south street
and Pine intersects with that street andPine basically if you turn east leads into
(05:36):
a residential area to the west side. Of Bullis is a super walmart on
the north west corner, and thenthere was some sort of commercial building that
was not being used to the south, to the west and south of Pine
(05:56):
so on something like that. Iassume bystanders were not there anymore. There
were some still, some transients werethere that we're staying in there, and
a lot of people. As thenight grew more people were showing up outside
the tape and they were some ofthem were friends of one of the victims
that had heard what had happened.But it's it's pretty secure for me at
(06:24):
that point because we have a biginvestigation to do, and we made a
very wide crime scene to ensure thatwe didn't miss anything. One of the
issues we had at this scene wasabout one hundred yards away northwest of where
this incident took place. We foundadditional cartridge casings in the roadway there,
(06:45):
which perplexed us at that moment.Why is their cartridge casings over here?
You know? And we had cartridgecasings at the scene near the car.
Yeah, So when you get toa scene like that, what I the
reason I was asking about the bystandersis were you able to interview any potential
(07:06):
witnesses when you got there or whereour da are they held there for you?
How does that work? At thatpoint? There were no witnesses that
I recall being there because every itwas mass chaos. Everybody scattered and fled
the location. Sure, there wasa few people that had been interviewed by
deputies, and that's where that's whereI was getting at. So will deputies
(07:27):
actually do some initial interviews for youand then hand that off? Is that
how that works? Yes? Yeah, they're they're they're they're trying to figure
out, hey, did you seeanything? Yeah? I did? You
know, they'll they'll try to,you know, hold those people there for
us if they're willing, more curiousthan anything. Because I've always been I've
voice wondered how that works because againyou see in the way that they do
it in movies and TVs, TVshows. But are they do the deputies
(07:51):
dig deep at all or do theyjust get surface information at that At that
level as a general rule, theyget surface information and they know that we're
coming okay, and they don't wantto do anything that might disrupt our investigation,
like what but well, they mighthave a suspect at the scene,
(08:11):
and then they start questioning him andthey, you know, don't realize he's
a suspect, or there's there shouldhave been a miranda way, something of
that nature should have occurred. Butthe deputies are good. They know what
to do. When they know theyhave somebody with good information, they'll usually
detain them and or get their cooperationand hold them at the scene or take
(08:33):
them back of the station so wecan interview him. And then you get
those notes when you get on sceneis and how it works, yeah,
those not. So we arrive andgenerally, you know, as we're waiting
for all the people that are goingto assist us, We're waiting for the
crime lab. I'm waiting for myboss, I'm waiting for everybody. We're
chit chatting about what's going on,but we're not getting into the nitty gritty,
you know, because once everybody's there, we're going to do a formal
(08:56):
briefing and then we're going to doa formal walkthrough of the scene, and
the deputy explains what was going onat that time. All we're at the
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homics SideBureau talking with Sergeant Mike Austin, about
a double murder from twenty twenty one. Two young men gunned down during a
street takeover at the intersection of Pineand Bullis in Conton. When we come
(09:16):
back, we'll talk more about thiscase, but first, this is Unsolved
with Steve Gregory on kf I AMsix forty. Time now for a news
update. Kf I AM six fortylive everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. I'm
Steve Gregory and this is Unsolved.Welcome back. We are talking with Sergeant
(09:43):
Mike Austin. He is a detectivewith the La County Sheriff's Department's Homics Side
Bureau. He's breaking down a casefor us going back to November of twenty
twenty one. It happened just beforeone am on November fourteenth, at the
intersection of Pine and Bullis in Compton, two young men gunned down during a
street takeover. Sergeant, before thebreak you were sort of you were kind
(10:05):
of breaking down when you roll upto a scene and the deputies had already
done some surface interviews of people aroundthere. What were you able to get
from that? What did you getsome good intel at that point? No,
we didn't have a lot of greatintel Basically, I've been involved in
law enforcement for nearly thirty two years, and I worked in the city of
(10:30):
Carson as a young patrol deputy,and we dealt with these street races for
years, and it's just something that'sbeen going on forever. And I was
aware of the complete chaos that wasmost likely going on at the time when
the deputies rolled in. So Ican imagine them trying to secure the scene.
(10:50):
They're worried about officer safety, they'reworried about crime scene preservation at that
point and getting people away from thevehicle where the victims were. So it's
pretty chaotic and I could picture thatgoing on. So I didn't have a
lot of expectations about what I wouldbe brought initially during the investigation. Because
people flee, they go, there'snot a lot of deputies on scene.
(11:13):
They really can't control every aspect ofit. So knowing that now we've got
the scene secure, I need toensure that we preserve every item of evidence
that we can preserve at that point, and that's my main focus here.
I knew that we didn't have specificsuspect information, otherwise I would have gotten
(11:37):
people on following up on that andtrying to find those suspects, so I
didn't have that at that point.How many colleagues did you have at other
detectives? How many would work ascene like this? So a scene like
this is generally it's me and mypartner and we will have anywhere between one
and three crime scene personnel out thereassisting with us on that. We have
(12:01):
detectives from Compton Station that came andprovided us with some information, and then
there's deputies all over the perimeter ofthe scene. But generally it's just it's
my partner and I that are directingthis investigation. Did you get an idea
of how many people were involved inthe street takeover? We had some video
(12:22):
that was posted on Instagram at aboutthe time of this incident, and it
was a lot. I mean forme to guess two to three hundred people
minimally we're at this scene when itoccurred. Yes, About how many cars?
It was numerous, numerous cars.I mean it was north and southbound
lanes blocked and cars parked ten deepat every angle that you could think of.
(12:48):
And then there's a large parking lotto the west for the walmart and
for this industrial building that was nextto us, and there was tons of
cars in those parking lots also thatwe're there spectating. Yeah, because this
sort of right at the peak ofwhen it was really becoming more public.
To your point, the street takeovertype things had been happening for a while,
but social media really helped to exacerbateall that. Yeah, So by
(13:11):
virtue of you saying you saw iton Instagram about twenty twenty one, November
twenty twenty one, that was justabout because I mean, in the city
of Los Angeles, say, we'rehaving big problems at the same time,
so this was pretty common. Absolutely. So at this point you get to
the vehicle, you notice you seethe two individuals inside, men Choka and
a Roscoe. So what do youdo first? I mean, where do
(13:35):
you go first? Where do youreyes go first? And where do your
hands go first? So, firstof all, anything that we think might
be evidence, we're going to identifythat our forensic identification specialist is We're going
to direct them to take photographs ofthe entire scene before we even touch it.
(13:56):
Once that's complete, now we labelall the evidence that we see as
items one, two, three,four on up. And those placards are
laid down, and then the forensicidentification specialist will photograph the scene again with
those placards in place. Once that'scomplete. Generally, now we're going to
(14:22):
call the coroner in and the cornerinvestigators going to arrive and so they're going
to do their investigation of the victim'sremains were present for that. We're photographing
that as that's occurring. Quite oftenduring those times you find additional pieces of
evidence that you didn't visually see,that might be under somebody or under an
(14:43):
item that you don't move initially.So you had the one individual I believe
you said it was Manchocca was thepassenger, right, No, Manchacca was
the driver. Yes, so Oroscoewas in the passenger seat. And what
was his condition like when you sawhim? You said he'd been shot multiple
(15:05):
times in the upper torso did itlook like he was trying to get out
of the car or did it looklike there was any defensive wounds. It
looked like he was possibly caught bysurprise and unable to react to what occurred.
As that happened. By evidence ofthe driver being partially out of the
vehicle, it appears he was tryingto get out of the vehicle when he
(15:26):
was shot and killed. And that'sthat's kind of where I was headed,
because you know, you said thathis body was out of the car and
his leg was sort of inside thecar, right, yes, can you
tell me something like that? Whowas shot first? I can only surmise,
but from appearance, sakes, Iwould say that the passenger was probably
(15:48):
shot first. What did that tellyou? Well, it told it told
me where the shooter was in proximityto the v vehicle, and that was
based on cartridge casings that were atthe scene. So we believe that the
suspect approached the vehicle from the passengerside and fired through the open window of
(16:12):
the victim's vehicle. Oh so throughso in front of the Rusco and then
hit minshaka. Yes, then okay, that makes sense. So does it
looked like they approached They were onthe street then, right, So it
had to have been during the takeover. Multiple people were on there, so
(16:34):
they were on the street absolutely,and there was probably a car parked next
to that victim vehicle at the timethis was happening. There's no doubt in
my mind that people saw this happeningand saw these suspects. Suspect flee the
location. I believe he had tohave gotten into a car and left and
(16:55):
somebody saw that. Unfortunately, wedon't have that information. When we come
back, we'll take more on thiscase of double murder in Compton, But
first, this is unsolved. WithSteve Gregory on kf I Am six forty
time now for a news update.Kf I Am six forty live everywhere on
(17:15):
the iHeartRadio app. I'm Steve Gregory. This is unsolved. If you're listening
on the app, you can sendus a tip about a case, a
story, idea, or a commententabout the show. Just tap the red
microphone on the app and record yourmessage. Welcome back to the Los Angeles
(17:40):
County Sheriff's Department, Thomas Ibureau.We're speaking with Sergeant Mike Austin. He's
telling us about a double murder fromNovember fourteenth, twenty twenty one. Happened
just before one am. Two youngmen, nineteen year old Javier man Chaka
and twenty two year old One Arousco. We're sitting in a vehicle during a
street takeover when both were gunned downand before the break. The sergeant was
(18:00):
walking us through how he and hispartner approached the scene on the street.
It was the nineteen hundred block ofNorth Bullis Road and near the intersection of
Bullis and Pine in Compton. Sergeant, one of the things you said in
earlier segment was something that baffled youwas the number of cartridges found up away
(18:22):
from the scene, further up thestreet. How many casings were found at
the near the vehicle, If memoryserves me correct, I believe it was
somewhere around ten round ten. Anddid that match the wounds in the two
bodies, It would correlate it towhat we were seeing on the victims,
and then can you account for theshells up the road? Eventually we did.
(18:45):
We ended up getting a witness thatwas watching the street race when the
shooting began. That witness wasn't ableto provide us any information as to what
had happened to one or Javier.They were able to tell us that after
(19:06):
the shooting occurred where these two wereshot, they heard the shots ring out.
An individual in a car parked overby where the other cartridge casings were
reached out of his moon roof andbegan shooting in the air. So we
were able to determine that most likelyit was completely unrelated to what was happening
(19:29):
to our victims, because there wasthere no ballistics match. There's nothing that
matched anything, and and it totallymade sense. We've been told on multiple
occasions there's individuals at these street racesnow that just shoot into the air celebratory
gunfire and they call it or somethingof that nature nature. But yeah,
we were pretty much felt pretty certainthat it was just unrelated and it probably
(19:55):
in response to hearing some gunfire,these guys went, you know, and
busted some rounds into the air.So how did you identify these guys?
Did they have ID on them?So slowly but surely we were able to
identify them. The vehicle was registeredto somebody with the same last name as
Jabier, and then we were ableto the detectives before I got there,
(20:19):
actually handed us information on who theythought these individuals were, and it ended
up being there. They pulled DMVphotos and we can look and go,
yeah, that's that's him. Yeah, then are you the one that's tasked
with notifying next to kin? Yes? How did that go that day?
So that took place later that dayMy partner and I went to the residence
(20:48):
of one of the families and spoketo the mom and she was devastated,
as you can imagine. And thenthe the mom that was the mother of
Juana Roscoe Um. And one ofthe things I'll go back on is we
had run these guys criminal histories,okay, UM one and and Javier didn't
(21:11):
have much of anything on their history. U Javier had some minor offense when
he was a juvenile, uh one. The only thing he had was some
driving related offenses. So now we'renot knowing is there a gang affiliation here
or anything. We're not seeing anyof that with these two guys, So
(21:32):
why would they be targeted? Andso when we meet mom uh you know,
we tried to get some baseline informationfrom her. We had to interview
her again later because she was sodevastated over this um. And then when
we we we also contacted Javier's mom. I think she actually came to the
(21:53):
scene, if I memory serves mecorrect. Um. She obviously was also
devastated, but she was really notable to provide us with much information about
her son, which was bothersome becausewe could never figure out, you know,
where he lived during this whole thing, and he was driving a newer
(22:15):
vehicle. You know, did hehave a job? No, Like,
okay, what was he doing formoney? How is he paying for this
vehicle? You know, things thatmost parents can can offer you answers to
she was unable to, especially atthe Yes. Yes, nineteen and twenty
two. Yeah, so then didyou find out then you were talking about
(22:37):
Manchaka's mom being on the scene.Had she already found out about this before
you had a chance to speak withher? Yes. So one of the
things we learned was that these twoindividuals had only known each other for a
short period of time. The momsdid not know each other, did not
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know how these two met. Sothat was perplexing too, Like, how
did these two guys end up ina car together. They'd known each other,
by our estimate, for maybe amonth or two. What we learned
as we went along was that theyboth had an interest in the street racing
scene, and that's probably what broughtthem together. Yeah. This issue with
(23:26):
the kind of the you know,the parents not knowing what the kids are
doing, especially young men or youngkids in general, that's not too surprising,
I suppose, But did you getanything out of the parents or the
moms at all that could put youdown any kind of a path. Yes,
Initially, Juan had a girlfriend,and we believe when we interviewed her,
(23:55):
she had spoken to them throughout theevening. She was facetiming with these
guys, and his girlfriend was alittle annoyed with him because he was being
out so late and he had togo to work the next morning, and
she was telling him to get home, and Javier or excuse me, Juan
had had facetimed his girlfriend and hesaid, yeah, they're about done and
(24:15):
he's going to come home. SoJuan's girlfriend basically told us that there might
have been somebody else in the carwith them, and so that kind of
was an investigative clue, like ifthere was somebody in that car with them
when they were out, and aboutwhere was that person now because they hadn't
(24:37):
come forward to us. We laterreceived a wee tip that this might have
been over a girl, and sowe started digging into that and it really
didn't go anywhere with us during thisinvestigation. But our belief is there they
(25:00):
have been somebody else in that caror was with them and not in the
car at the time. They wereshot. Maybe they were up watching the
race or up close as people liketo get real close to this. We
don't know, so I'm going topause right there. When we come back,
we'll dig more on this case fromtwenty twenty one. But first,
this is Unsolved with Steve Gregory onkf I AM six forty. Time now
(25:21):
for a news update kf I AMsix forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
I'm Steve Gregory, and this isUnsolved. Welcome back to the Los
(25:44):
Angeles County Sheriff's Department Humic Side Bureauin Monterey Park. We've been talking with
Sergeant Mike Austin. He's been breakingdown a double murder that happened November fourteenth,
twenty twenty one, just before oneam in the nineteen hundred block of
North Bullis Avenue in Compton. Beforethe break, sergeant, you were talking
a little bit about someone may havebeen in the car with Javier Minchaka and
(26:07):
Juana Rosco the night that they wereshot, and you were sort of figuring
that out. You found out thatone had a girlfriend, and the girlfriend
told you that there might have beensomeone else in that car or any idea
who that could have been. Soshe said she was having a conversation with
her her boyfriend, Juan, andthat Juan had said that this girl that
(26:30):
was in the car with them,So it was a girl. We believe
it was a girl. Was agirlfriend of Javier's. Oh, okay,
So, but you had also mentionedthat this entire attack might have been motivated
by a girl or jealous ears.We did get a wee tip that said
something of that nature. So wereally started looking hard at Javier and the
(26:53):
people he was associated with. Wefound a female of interest in the case,
and we went and interviewed her andtalked to her, and she was
with him that day. However,she had told us that she hates the
street races and that she did notgo to the street race with him.
(27:15):
We had text messages on phones thatcorroborated her information, and we did location
data on her phone which showed thatshe had parted ways with Javier at two
or three in the afternoon that day. So did he have other girlfriends?
He talked to a lot of girls, but we were never able to really
(27:37):
identify anybody specifically that might have beenin that car. The car that the
two young men were sitting in wasit stationary? I mean, was it
sitting still or was it moving?It was part, it was part.
You said you had some video,but you saw mostly on social media platforms.
(27:57):
Right, No surveillance video was crossfrom Walmart. Right. Yeah,
so Walmart, as you know,has great video, and there was businesses
in the area that had some video. We pulled the Walmart video. It
was such a distance to where youcould see the pandemonium of the street race
occurring, but it offered us nodetails of anything that occurred specifically. We
(28:22):
got a couple of other places withvideo looked at that. It just didn't
offer us any information that we werehoping to get from it. You talked
about earlier that you ran these twoyoung men's backgrounds and nothing came up in
terms of gang relation gang affiliation.But that doesn't necessarily mean it couldn't been
(28:42):
some sort of a gang hint.Right, We're open to any possibility on
this now. As we were lookinginto this, I started contacting some people
who are in the street racing scene, law enforcement wise, and I spoke
to an officer I don't remember hisname, from the California Way Patrol,
and we believe Javier was part ofsome sort of car club, and talking
(29:07):
to the HP officer who's on atask force directly involved, he has been
pushing because some of these car clubsthat are affiliated with these street races are
acting like gangs now. And sothere's a group of individuals who were associated
(29:29):
with Javier that ended up showing upat the crime seeing. You know,
during the day we interviewed them.They really didn't offer any useful information as
to this incident. But he wasin some sort of car club. When
you say they didn't offer you anyuseful information, is it because they didn't
know anything or they didn't want totell you anything. I'm suspecting a little
(29:52):
bit of both. You know.There are hopes that one of the these
individuals knows something that they would comeforward, And I reach out every now
and then to these guys trying toget information and open the lines of communication.
(30:12):
And again we're hoping that using thismechanism and others via the press,
that somebody comes up with a motiveas to why this happened. At the
very least, we still don't havea motive. Was this in this area
in the nineteen hundred block of Northbullis is that gang territory of any kind.
(30:34):
Well, it's the city of Compton, you know, and there's various
gag. I think every square mileat Compton's claimed by somebody, but this
specific area it's nicer homes. Peoplecalled because they were annoyed by the street
race. You know. There wasmultiple canvassings that took place on the residents
(30:56):
that backed up to the street.Most people reported the noise, they heard
what they thought were gunfire or wasgunfire, but nothing that offered us any
evidence. I remember covering this initialpress conference when you announced a reward,
and did you get anything from thepress conference? Unfortunately no. I was
(31:21):
quite disappointed because we had a bigpress conference, we had both moms here,
get it up and pleaded the publicfor information, and we did not
get one phone call generated as aresult of that press conference. But you're
absolutely convinced that someone saw what happenedand knows exactly what happened. I'm absolutely
(31:41):
convinced of that. So what's yourmessage to them? Please call us,
tell us why this happened. Wehave two grieving families that want answers,
and I want to be able togive them those answers they deserved that.
I don't think these two individuals deservedwhat happened to them, and I would
like to bring these families some sortof closure in this case and bring justice
(32:05):
to these families. Sergeant Mike Coston, La County Sheriffs Departments, SMIC Side
Bureau, thank you for your time. Yes, sir, thank you.
As of this airing, there wasa forty thousand dollars reward offered in the
case, and you can reach outto the Unsolved Team or contact Homicide Bureau.
Coming up, we go across thehall to the Sheriff's Department's Cold Case
unit, where Detective rich Tomlin breaksdown a case of an Army veteran who
was gunned down in front of hisbrother's house in Lancaster. But first,
(32:30):
this is unsolved. With Steve Gregoryon kf I AM six forty time now
for a news update. Los AngelesCounty Sheriff's Department Cold case number zero one
(32:59):
two zero seven one four six dashone one two one zero one one the
murder of thirty year old Nathan Taylor. Detective Rich Tomlin's been with the cold
(33:20):
case unit for a few years andhe's a friend of the show. He
called to tell us about a disturbingcase out of Lancaster. An Army veteran
who served three tours overseas was murderedafter he pulled up to the home of
his brother. Tomlin gives us thedisturbing details of the murdered military man.
On April twenty first, twenty twelve, about ten minutes after midnight on a
Saturday, Nathan Taylor, aged thirty, was killed in the seven hundred block
(33:45):
of West Avenue, aged seven inLancaster. This area is a residential neighborhood
with single family homes, and whatwe understand about this case is that deputies
responded to a gunshot victim call forservice. When they arrived, they saw
(34:06):
Nathan slumped over the steering wheel ofhis white nineteen ninety six Cadillac Sedan.
He was parked in front of aresidence. And what caught the deputy's attention
he was obviously suffering from gunshot moonsto his upper torso, the car was
running, and he had an unwrappedburrito in his lap. At the scene,
(34:31):
they spoke to Nathan's brother, Patrick, and Patrick told them the following.
Patrick said his brother Nathan had calledhim a few minutes earlier and said
that he was in the neighborhood andthat he wanted to stop by and visit
him. But right before he's gonnastop by, he's gonna grab something to
eat. So Patrick said he isin the backyard just waiting for his brother,
(34:52):
when suddenly he heard six or sevengunshots. He ran outside and he
saw his brother slumped over the wheelof the car, and he immediately started
screaming for neighbors to call nine oneone. Patrick also mentioned when he walked
outside, he saw three young menrunning down the street around the corner,
(35:13):
and there were hopping fences and outof his view. So at that point
deputies arrived. They're trying to sortthings out. They've talked to a few
witnesses in the area, and someoneactually identified that one house. Seeing three
individuals run into a particular house ona street around the corner, deputies immediately
(35:37):
got a search warrant and entered intothat residence. There they spoke to three
young men who told them the followingThey had been walking down the street earlier
when a red car he believed itwas a Honda, with two African American
(35:58):
males inside mad dogged them, basicallymeaning that they were giving them dirty looks.
The car slowed down, they werelooking at them, and then they
continued driving. These three young mendidn't think too much of it, continued
walking when suddenly they saw that samered car pull next to a white Cadillac
(36:21):
that was parked on the street.They heard several gunshots, believing that those
gunshots came from that red car,and the red car had now suddenly accelerated
away. Believing that that car wasgoing to circle around and now shoot at
them. But at the opporpites ofthat car were going to shoot at them,
they ran and they entered into thehouse. So what initially was believed
(36:45):
to be a strong case with obvioussuspects turned out to be just another witness,
if you will, a clue towhat happened during this investigation. At
the time, the Handling homicide detectives, who have since retired and moved out
(37:07):
of state, said that they receivedthe flood of information, more so regarding
who the victim, Nathan Taylor,was very sad. Basically, what they're
telling the detectives at the time,Nathan had moved to the area around nineteen
(37:30):
ninety seven, had moved to theLancaster area with his family. His family
was a military family. His fatherhad retired from the Air Force after doing
twenty plus years. He had twosisters, Rachel and Kinsey, who had
also served time in the military.So after graduating, Nathan, following in
(37:52):
his family's footsteps, joined the USArmy, where he served eight years,
topping out at the rank of sergeant. He served three tours in Iraq in
Afghanistan, and upon completing his time, had recently left the military and was
(38:15):
attending Antelope Valley College where he wasstudying computer software engineering. He was close
to graduating at the time of hismurder, and it didn't back then and
still to this day, is puzzling. Why was he shot, Why was
(38:36):
he targeted? Was he targeted?And he's basically assassinated in an area that
he had grown up. And beforewe get back to Detective Tomlin, I
(39:24):
want to take this opportunity to thankyou for making us a part of your
weekend and if you're listening through ourpodcast, thanks for downloading. There are
many ways to contact the Unsolved teamif you have an idea for a case,
a comment, or a tip aboutone of the cases. We've covered.
If you happen to be listening onthe live stream through the iHeartRadio app,
we've made it really easy to hitus up. Just press that red
(39:45):
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your message, email the team unsolvedat iHeartMedia dot com. That's unsolved at
(40:06):
iHeartMedia dot com. Now, ifyou're giving us an idea for an unsolved
case, please give us as muchdetail as possible. In my experience,
police and sheriff's departments don't have alot of resources to research every random case
that comes up, So if youprovide a name, dates, locations,
and other pertinent information, that reallyhelps put your idea higher up on the
(40:27):
list. Much more with Detective richTomlin from the Eli County Sheriff's Cold Case
Unit. But first, this isunsolved with Steve Gregory on kf I am
six forty time. Now for anews update. KFI AM six forty live
(40:58):
everywhere on the iHeartRadio. I'm SteveGregory. This is unsolved. If you're
listening on the app, you cansend us a tip about a case,
a story idea, or a commentabout the show. Just tap the red
microphone on the app and record yourmessage. Welcome back. We are inside
(41:30):
of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department'sHomicide Bureau talking with cold Kit Detective Rich
Tomlin, who's been laying out thetragic death of Nathan Taylor, a thirty
year old former Army sergeant who servedthree tours in rock in Afghanistan, only
to be gunned down in his hometownof Lancaster. And he was about to
(41:52):
graduate from Antelope Valley College with adegree in engineering. So, Detective Tomlin,
before the break, you were tellingus that you know this. Basically,
this guy was a saint, lovedby all you know. My first
question is going to be always isdo you believe this guy was targeted and
didn't have any game connections. No, I believe reviewing the file, listening
(42:15):
to interviews that were conducted at thattime, and trying to conduct new interviews,
it appears that he was the victimof being in the wrong place at
the wrong time. I won't sayyou mistaken identity per se, but being
in the wrong place in the wrongtime, why why wouldn't you not say
(42:36):
mistaken identity? Mainly because of wherethe shooting occurred. Apparently back in twenty
twelve, that area had two factionsfighting with each other, and where Nathan
was shot was in the heart ofone of the one of those areas,
(43:00):
and it was believed and information providedat that time that one specific caller actually
stated that Nathan was not the target, but it was it did occur in
that area, in that block becausethere were members of that one particular click
(43:20):
that lived on that block. Andso basically the theory is these other individuals
see a car, they probably sawhim just actually pull in a park and
they figure, well, he's parkedin that area, it's a little bit
after midnight, he's a young AfricanAmerican male, strong possibility that he might
(43:44):
be a member of this group,and they rolled up and shot him.
Okay, So I can ask,because you've done a number of cases for
our show, and I know yourbackground. You've got you've got gang gangs
in your background in terms of investigating. Is that typical for any kind of
a gang in this case, youwouldn't even elevate them to a gang,
(44:06):
but a clique is that sort ofthe difference, because I mean, the
last thing I want to do isglorify a gang here. But what I'm
trying to understand is is it typicalfor them just to shoot somebody on an
outside chance that they're getting the rightperson or don't or are they very specific
because like in cartels, for instance, cartels have a code before they kill
(44:27):
an assassinate. Does that same thingkind of you know, exist in these
gang slash clicks. Unfortunately no,And these members of these cliques will you
hear the street term put in work, meaning they'll do shootings, they'll commit
robberies, they'll commit crimes, andthat what they're trying to do is elevate
(44:49):
the status of these cliques to oneday have enough members, have enough other
individuals want to join them, andthey get elevated in the gang world if
you um and unfortunately there is norhyme or reason. Um you know,
you always hear about uh these randomshootings and unfortunately it is a part of
(45:16):
the criminal world. So you're dealingmore times than not, you're dealing with
a bunch of amateur thugs. Correct, I mean, you're dealing with just
people that are set out to bewant to be or uh, you know,
with no you know, I keepeven saying again like a code,
like an ethics. It's it's soum, you know, sort of conflicted
(45:38):
for me to even say that.But that's the reality of having covered these
kinds of cases, is that alot of these gangs and cartels as I
mentioned, operate with an ethics andthe code. And you're correct, Steve,
when you say that, And therethere is like you you'll hear that
they'll use the term when you're talkinto these gang members or cortel members.
(45:59):
You don't shoot at civilians quote unquotecivilians, Okay, But unfortunately, where
you get these youngsters and these individualsthat were described possible suspects they were uh,
late teens, early twenties, youhave these guys who are just so
bent on trying to make a namefor themselves that they're reckless. And there
(46:20):
they are not thinking clearly, anybodywho picks up a gun and shooting at
somebody that they don't even know havenever seen, then I thinking clearly for
no reason. So in that aspect, and again, you know, we
have to look an investigator has tolook at everything with a John design,
(46:44):
even the victim. And in thiscase, Nathan was a star, if
you will. There's there's nothing inhis background. Um. It's a very
tragic thing that occurred, and atthe time it heard, it received literally
received national attention. Here's a youngman who had just come back from serving,
(47:07):
as I mentioned earlier, three toursover in Afghanistan and Iraq, only
to be killed in his own neighborhood. When we come back, I want
to explore a little bit more aboutwho is family is and if there was
anything that the family can help youwith. Also, you touched on something
I wanted to also go back to, and it's the three guys that witnessed
(47:30):
it. I want to talk alittle bit about that. But first,
This is Unsolved with Steve Gregory oncamp I Am six forty Time now for
a news update kf I AM sixforty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
I'm Steve Gregory. This is Unsolved. Welcome back to the Los Angeles County
(47:58):
Sheriffs Department's Homicide Bureau. Were speakingwith cold case Detective Rich Tomlin, a
friend of the show who has beenbriefing us on the case of Nathan Taylor,
thirty year old former sergeant with theArmy, served eight years serving the
country, served three tours in Iraqand Afghanistan, only to be gunned down
(48:19):
in front of his brother's home inLancaster, the town that he grew up
in. So, Detective, beforethe break, I was going to ask
you a little bit about the threeguys that witnessed. They say they heard
the shooting. They didn't necessarily seethe shooting, or did they see the
shooting or they just heard the shooting. No, they did not see the
shooting. They heard it. Theyheard it. But this they said that
(48:40):
the same red car that they sawearlier that gave them sort of a dirty
look, was also seen speeding awayfrom the scene, presumably filled with the
shooter. Yes, and that alarmedthem. They thought, well, these
guys will come back and now possiblyshoot at us, So they ran from
(49:01):
the area. So what do youwhat do you know about these three guys
looking through the case, They hadno involvement. Again, they wrong place,
wrong time, if you will.Um. They were forthcoming, two
(49:21):
of them, anyway, We're veryforthcoming U. The other third was hesitant
for unknown reasons. Does ever giveyou a red flag? Actually, no,
um, doing this job as longas I have. Everybody is different,
truly, everybody is different. Andand sometimes we believe people should you're
(49:45):
thinking people should react a certain way, and they don't. And it's nothing
nefarious, it's nothing uh sneaky.You know, you have to take it
for what it's worth. Of courseyou're going to delve in a little bit
deeper. But then you know youkind of sess it like, Okay,
this person just flat out does doesn'twant to cooperate, period, just because
(50:06):
and and you can't really get aroundthat. Okay, Well I didn't mean,
and so the meanor after you.I just had always been curious about
that, if that was the rightflag, if someone didn't want to cooperate
or be a witness. No um. And actually, um, the investigators
didn't just leave it at that.They had other witnesses. Another witness stated
(50:28):
they saw the red car stop infront of the mister Taylor's car. Um.
You had an anonymous caller state that, Um, they weren't present at
the time, but they explained thereason. Again, this one clique was
warring, if you will, withthis other clique, and they were members
(50:49):
of that they were responsible for shootingNathan. It was it was he wasn't
the intended specific target. But againbecause he was in that area, um,
at the wrong time. Did hefit that he would fit the profile
of someone being on someone's turf?Correct? Now again, Um, based
(51:10):
on all your experience covering gang cases, Um, could there have also been
a diversion call when they call itto try to divert attention to say this
beef was going on between these twoclicks and trying to lay blame somewhere else.
No, only because of a fewreasons. Number one, Nathan had
no type of record. I mean, yes, he had an outstanding record,
(51:34):
if you will, for serving hiscountry. Right, Um, there
was no You know, people willimmediately say something about, well was there
another woman involved? No, hewas engaged to be married. So it's
not that angle, if you will, it is, um. But what
I mean, But what I alsomean is that um uh. You know,
when when you see a shooting likethat and one click and or a
(51:58):
gang uh sees that this is happening, they want to deflect any attention away
from them. So they're the onesthat actually call you anonymously because you said
it was an anonymous tip, right, yes, So no, have you
ever seen that in your experience?No? Okay, no, when they
call knowing that they may have beenthe click that did it, but they're
trying to divert attention because nine timesout of ten they actually want the credit
for doing what they got it.They want they want to let the world
(52:22):
know that they are ruthless. Itmakes sense that they're that that they'll do
stuff like that. They'll again quoteunquote, put in work, got it,
got it. Sorry, didn't meanto go off on that tangent,
but you know how I go everytime it comes up something. I'm curious
about this stuff. That's a littlebit and the audience is curious too.
It's great. People need to understandthat it's okay. So these three guys
(52:45):
have been your witness, telling youeverything that they can tell you. Um,
you don't suspect that they're involved inany way, shape or form.
But these three guys, So ifthey were on the same turf as Nathan,
was there any nexus of these threeguys being connected to any of these
cliques. No, and so theywere just they were just random guys out
(53:07):
for back and back In twenty twelve, and we're just talking to reality.
The the two cliques that were atthat time warring with each other were African
American, mainly primarily ninety nine percentAfrican American males. These individuals that we
(53:28):
spoke to were Hispanic. Got okay, so, um, you're not profiling,
you're not, you know, butyou have to deal in reality too,
So no, they the mindset isif this one clique is looking for
specific lead, the other clique,who they know, are uh, filled
(53:52):
up with African American males. Sure, the Hispanic guys, they're not.
They're not going to target if youwill. What can you tell us about
the brother Patrick? You know,not too much. Patrick was the younger
brother. Nathan wanted to spend timewith him, wanted to make sure that
he was on the right path,and it was a very tragic that Patrick
(54:16):
last memory is gonna see his brothershot. Yeah, and Patrick provided at
the time whatever information that he hadavailable to you know what he saw and
yeah, that's that's pretty much that. Well, you've gotten already in this.
(54:39):
You had an anonymous phone call,you had people that came forward,
you have two well known clicks inthe area. Frankly I'm a little surprised
that you haven't at least honed inon a suspect or two. Well,
well you don't hold that thought,because we're running out of time on this
prank. When we come back,we're gonna wrap it up with rich Tollon,
(55:00):
detective with the Cold Case Unit ofthe La County Sheriff's Department. But
first, this is Unsolved with SteveGregory on KFI AM six forty time Now
for a news update. Kf IAM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio
app. I'm Steve Gregory. Thisis unsolid. Welcome back to the Los
(55:27):
Angeles County Sheriff's Department Tom Inside Bureau. We are in Monterey Park. I'm
sitting inside with rich tomon, adetective with the Cold Case Unit. We're
in a large conference room in thecenter of the bureau, and we're talking
about the case of Nathan Taylor,a thirty year old man who was killed
in front of his brother's home backin twenty twelve. Nathan was a veteran
(55:50):
of the Army, served three toursin Afghanistan and Iraq, and was gunned
down while he sat in his car. In fact, he had just gone
to something to eat, Detective beforethe break you said he was actually you
told me that his burrito was stillin his lap when he was gunned down,
so he had literally just gotten backfrom picking up something to eat.
(56:14):
Were there any surveillance video at all? I mean, so if you look
back where he picked up the burritofrom, like a drive through or a
restaurant, wherever he got it,did you think that maybe there were surveillance
video? Was he being followed youthink by this red car? Or do
you think this was just a randomthe location where he bought the burrito from,
(56:38):
video footage was obtained from there andat that time though, there was
no car behind him. So ourbelief is somewhere along the line it was
random, you know. Conjecture isthat red car knew exactly where they wanted
to go, what area that whichstreet they wanted to drive down, and
(57:00):
Nathan just happened to be parked there. As far as right before the break,
you asked the question about suspects,and that's the main reason why we
appreciate you giving us this opportunity totalk about this case. Somebody, some
(57:22):
persons obviously have to know exactly whathappened and who is involved. And what
we are hoping for is time hasnow passed. It's been a decade.
And in fact, his sister Rachelhad reached out and made a phone call
(57:43):
asking about the status of the case. And I spoke to her a couple
of months ago and she was relayingwhat happened, her perspective on things,
and I said, okay, welllet me review it, let me get
back to you first. So wehad ordered up the cage, reviewed the
facts of the case and delving moreinto it. This is definitely a case
(58:09):
that is solvable. There are cases, to be quite frank with you,
there are no witnesses. There's justnothing there. It's the old blood spot
on a street and nobody knows anythingthis one. There are strong possibilities.
And another reason why the strong possibilitiesis where it occurred. Occurred in Lancaster.
The people in Lancaster actually have avery good reputation within the law enforcement
(58:37):
arena of cooperative witnesses. So again, what I'm hoping for is the listeners
are going to hear this case,They're going to remember this case, and
they're going to be calling your stationor calling sheriff's homicide and stepping up doing
(58:57):
the right thing and pointing us inthe right direction. Okay, So what
about ring video on homes? No? No, no, what kind of
neighborhood was this? It was aresidential, single family homes, mostly retired
younger mix mix. It was amixture. It was a mixture in any
predominant ethnicity. No, it was, it was. It was also a
(59:22):
diverse Okay. So because I don'tknow that area West Avenue h H seven,
so I don't know if that's morerural or if it's more urban.
You know, I can't speak forten years ago looking at the photos.
It was a little it was acombination. How about got that you know?
Yeah, you know, but it'sdefinitely occurred in a residential neighborhood,
(59:44):
single family homes. This has gotto be highly frustrating because for the reasons
you just pointed out a second ago, this is solvable. And I mean
just listening to you telling me thatyou've had an anonymous tip, you had
witnesses, you have a car,you have a lot of things that a
lot of detectives never ever get ina case. So what's the missing piece
(01:00:06):
here? I don't know you haveto remember also, it's unfortunate, but
the reality is this, I'm pickingthis up ten years later. Yeah,
so I have to do a lotof digging. I have to, my
partner and I or the cool caseunit, we have to. We have
a lot of ground to cover,and it being so long ago, if
(01:00:28):
you will, but not that longago where people don't remember that. We
have to freshen up the interviews.We have to go back and recontact these
people and maybe they'll remember something ormaybe they've heard something over the years that
will help assist us in finding outwho is responsible for this. The three
(01:00:50):
young men that you spoke with before, have you spoken to them when you
after you've gotten the case? Notyet? Not yet, not yet,
but I plan to. They arestill in the area. They are are
they They're still a Lancaster. I'mjust gonna leave it in the area,
okay. And so two of themanyway, and so we were able to
re interview them, um more interestedin the direction of the anonymous caller.
(01:01:17):
And one thing, the detectives thatoriginally had this case, they did a
good job as far as again,when I tell you this received national attention,
it truly did. And so Iwant to be a military value.
Absolutely, absolutely, And so theywere getting a lot of clues and tips
(01:01:40):
that they had to run down thatled to nowhere. But the reality is,
if you get if somebody calls inand says something, you have to
spend the time to look into it. And so they spent a lot of
time, like what. I don'tknow how much time they spent, but
I do know they covered a lotof clues that led to nowhere. You
(01:02:04):
know, the anonymous caller, yousay, you say you kind of want
to focus in on that person aswell. When you say anonymous caller?
Did that tip come in through likea crime Stoppers? Did it come directly
to homicide Barrow? Do you rememberthat call came in directly to I don't
know how it originally came into.But the detectives actually spoke to this person.
Oh they did. Yes, Soit was an anonymous initially, but
(01:02:24):
they do have an identity on theperson. No, no, and you
get that, And we don't mindthat. I don't mind receiving a phone
call. Some money can lay itout. I don't want to give my
name, but this is who you'relooking at. This is the reason why
now if they are a natural eyewitness, and you know, you plead,
(01:02:44):
beg and do whatever you can totry to get them to step up
and give their name. But ifthey're just giving you the background. In
this case, it was a itwas a broken relationship, okay, and
someone was calling you know, soit will take whatever we can get rich
(01:03:07):
Tom won't always a pleasure. Iappreciate your help. Let's see if we
can get anyone in the Lancaster areaor someone who has any knowledge about a
case from all this we're looking atat least eleven years ago, um about
Nathan Taylor, an Army veteran whoserved eight years in the military only to
be killed in his hometown and Lancaster. You're convinced someone knows what happened exactly
(01:03:32):
and they're still around, do youthink yes? And and we are asking
the someone to do the right thing. And again, Steve, I want
to thank you for always giving usthe opportunity to profile certain cases. Always
a pleasure to detective. Thank youso much. And that's going to do
it Unsolved with Steve Gregory. Theradio show is a production of the KFI
(01:03:52):
News Department for iHeartMedia, Los Angelesand is produced by Steve Gregory and Jacob
Gonzalez. Our field engineer is TonySoaring Tino, and our digital producer is
Nate Ward. To hear this andother episodes, just download Unsolved with Steve
Gregory on the iHeartRadio app or whereveryou listen. Coming up, it's Before
the Coast with Clay Row. Butfirst, this is kf I am six
(01:04:15):
forty time now for a news update
On any given day in southern California, hundreds of investigators are working more than
ten thousand unsolved cases. That's thousandsof friends and families who have lost loved
ones, thousands of people who gotaway with a crime, and thousands of
murderers who still walk the streets.Killers who may be your neighbor, go
to your church, or could bedating a close friend. For the next
(00:39):
two hours will highlight cases that havegone cold, baffled investigators, or just
needs that one witness to speak up. This is unsolved with Steve Gregory,
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department homicide casenumber zero two one DASH one two nine
(01:03):
five eight DASH two eight two fivezero one one the murders of nineteen year
old Javierra Minchaka and twenty two yearold one of Roscoe. We got a
call from Homicide Detective Sergeant Mike Austin. He works in the Active Cases bullpen
(01:23):
inside Homicide Bureau, which is inMonterey Park. This is our first case
with Detective Austin. He said hehad a double murder involving two guys who
were friends and we're sitting in theircar on the evening of November fourteenth,
twenty twenty one, in the Cityof Compton. Detective Austin breaks down the
case of the street takeover execution.It was a Saturday night into Sunday.
(01:46):
There was a street takeover near theintersection of Pine and Bullets in the City
of Compton and deputies were dispatched tothat location to break up the illegal street
takeover that was taking place at thattime. And actually a deputy had staged
(02:07):
a couple of blocks south of wherethis takeover was occurring, and during that
time there were shots fired. Thedeputy waited for an additional backup to roll
in and so as they rolled in, it was mass chaos. Basically,
people were just dispersing and going everywhere. There's two to three hundred people minimum
(02:32):
at this takeover. The deputies weredirected to a vehicle that was parked in
the middle of the street on Bullis, just south of the Pine intersection.
The vehicle was actually facing north,but it was in the number one southbound
lane because the cars had basically blockedthe entire street. As they approached,
(02:58):
people were running everywhere. They foundtwo individuals, Wanna Rosco and Javier Menchaka,
in a vehicle and they had beenbasically shot to death. So when
you say deputies were directed to thiscar, who directed them? As they
were approaching, there were witnesses saying, hey, over there, someone's been
(03:20):
shot. Okay, So that tellsyou right out of the shoot someone witnessed
the shoot. Absolutely. So thisis a case of the street takeovers now,
and this is one of the thingsthat I know law ENFORCEMTH Sheriff Department,
police departments have been battling with onsomething like this. Based on your
experience, Sergeant, a shooting ata street takeover is at common or uncommon,
(03:43):
it's becoming more common over the lastseveral years. Unfortunately, I don't
know the statistics, but I doknow that there are multiple cases under investigation
within our bureau that involved or havesomething to do with being in proximity to
a near go street takeover. Sowhen you get the call and you roll
up, what was the first thingyou saw it? And it kind of
(04:04):
walk us through that and paint thepicture. So as I arrived, I
was home sleeping, I get thephone call and so I got there some
time between three and three thirty inthe morning, and as I arrived,
it's already taped off the intersections aretaped off. There's deputies, you know,
everywhere around and I contact the handlingdeputy who basically gives me and my
(04:29):
partner an overview of what they havethere. And there's basically the victim's vehicle
as I described earlier, it's it'sfacing north in the number one southbound lane
of Bullets just south of Pine.That was the intersection that the racing was
going on. And there was anindividual who seated in the right front passenger
(04:53):
seat, one A Roscoe. Hehad been shot multiple times in his upper
body. And then the apparent driverof the vehicle was actually laying partially out
of the vehicle with a leg stillinside on the driver's floorboard of the vehicle,
and he had been shot in theupper body and was deceased. Okay,
(05:15):
So when you unpack this kind ofthing and you walk up to a
scene like this, first of all, what kind of an area are we
talking about here at the intersection ofBullis and Pine? Pine? Is that
industrial? Was it? So?Residential? Bullis is a north south street
and Pine intersects with that street andPine basically if you turn east leads into
(05:36):
a residential area to the west side. Of Bullis is a super walmart on
the north west corner, and thenthere was some sort of commercial building that
was not being used to the south, to the west and south of Pine
(05:56):
so on something like that. Iassume bystanders were not there anymore. There
were some still, some transients werethere that we're staying in there, and
a lot of people. As thenight grew more people were showing up outside
the tape and they were some ofthem were friends of one of the victims
that had heard what had happened.But it's it's pretty secure for me at
(06:24):
that point because we have a biginvestigation to do, and we made a
very wide crime scene to ensure thatwe didn't miss anything. One of the
issues we had at this scene wasabout one hundred yards away northwest of where
this incident took place. We foundadditional cartridge casings in the roadway there,
(06:45):
which perplexed us at that moment.Why is their cartridge casings over here?
You know? And we had cartridgecasings at the scene near the car.
Yeah, So when you get toa scene like that, what I the
reason I was asking about the bystandersis were you able to interview any potential
(07:06):
witnesses when you got there or whereour da are they held there for you?
How does that work? At thatpoint? There were no witnesses that
I recall being there because every itwas mass chaos. Everybody scattered and fled
the location. Sure, there wasa few people that had been interviewed by
deputies, and that's where that's whereI was getting at. So will deputies
(07:27):
actually do some initial interviews for youand then hand that off? Is that
how that works? Yes? Yeah, they're they're they're they're trying to figure
out, hey, did you seeanything? Yeah? I did? You
know, they'll they'll try to,you know, hold those people there for
us if they're willing, more curiousthan anything. Because I've always been I've
voice wondered how that works because againyou see in the way that they do
it in movies and TVs, TVshows. But are they do the deputies
(07:51):
dig deep at all or do theyjust get surface information at that At that
level as a general rule, theyget surface information and they know that we're
coming okay, and they don't wantto do anything that might disrupt our investigation,
like what but well, they mighthave a suspect at the scene,
(08:11):
and then they start questioning him andthey, you know, don't realize he's
a suspect, or there's there shouldhave been a miranda way, something of
that nature should have occurred. Butthe deputies are good. They know what
to do. When they know theyhave somebody with good information, they'll usually
detain them and or get their cooperationand hold them at the scene or take
(08:33):
them back of the station so wecan interview him. And then you get
those notes when you get on sceneis and how it works, yeah,
those not. So we arrive andgenerally, you know, as we're waiting
for all the people that are goingto assist us, We're waiting for the
crime lab. I'm waiting for myboss, I'm waiting for everybody. We're
chit chatting about what's going on,but we're not getting into the nitty gritty,
you know, because once everybody's there, we're going to do a formal
(08:56):
briefing and then we're going to doa formal walkthrough of the scene, and
the deputy explains what was going onat that time. All we're at the
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homics SideBureau talking with Sergeant Mike Austin, about
a double murder from twenty twenty one. Two young men gunned down during a
street takeover at the intersection of Pineand Bullis in Conton. When we come
(09:16):
back, we'll talk more about thiscase, but first, this is Unsolved
with Steve Gregory on kf I AMsix forty. Time now for a news
update. Kf I AM six fortylive everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. I'm
Steve Gregory and this is Unsolved.Welcome back. We are talking with Sergeant
(09:43):
Mike Austin. He is a detectivewith the La County Sheriff's Department's Homics Side
Bureau. He's breaking down a casefor us going back to November of twenty
twenty one. It happened just beforeone am on November fourteenth, at the
intersection of Pine and Bullis in Compton, two young men gunned down during a
street takeover. Sergeant, before thebreak you were sort of you were kind
(10:05):
of breaking down when you roll upto a scene and the deputies had already
done some surface interviews of people aroundthere. What were you able to get
from that? What did you getsome good intel at that point? No,
we didn't have a lot of greatintel Basically, I've been involved in
law enforcement for nearly thirty two years, and I worked in the city of
(10:30):
Carson as a young patrol deputy,and we dealt with these street races for
years, and it's just something that'sbeen going on forever. And I was
aware of the complete chaos that wasmost likely going on at the time when
the deputies rolled in. So Ican imagine them trying to secure the scene.
(10:50):
They're worried about officer safety, they'reworried about crime scene preservation at that
point and getting people away from thevehicle where the victims were. So it's
pretty chaotic and I could picture thatgoing on. So I didn't have a
lot of expectations about what I wouldbe brought initially during the investigation. Because
people flee, they go, there'snot a lot of deputies on scene.
(11:13):
They really can't control every aspect ofit. So knowing that now we've got
the scene secure, I need toensure that we preserve every item of evidence
that we can preserve at that point, and that's my main focus here.
I knew that we didn't have specificsuspect information, otherwise I would have gotten
(11:37):
people on following up on that andtrying to find those suspects, so I
didn't have that at that point.How many colleagues did you have at other
detectives? How many would work ascene like this? So a scene like
this is generally it's me and mypartner and we will have anywhere between one
and three crime scene personnel out thereassisting with us on that. We have
(12:01):
detectives from Compton Station that came andprovided us with some information, and then
there's deputies all over the perimeter ofthe scene. But generally it's just it's
my partner and I that are directingthis investigation. Did you get an idea
of how many people were involved inthe street takeover? We had some video
(12:22):
that was posted on Instagram at aboutthe time of this incident, and it
was a lot. I mean forme to guess two to three hundred people
minimally we're at this scene when itoccurred. Yes, About how many cars?
It was numerous, numerous cars.I mean it was north and southbound
lanes blocked and cars parked ten deepat every angle that you could think of.
(12:48):
And then there's a large parking lotto the west for the walmart and
for this industrial building that was nextto us, and there was tons of
cars in those parking lots also thatwe're there spectating. Yeah, because this
sort of right at the peak ofwhen it was really becoming more public.
To your point, the street takeovertype things had been happening for a while,
but social media really helped to exacerbateall that. Yeah, So by
(13:11):
virtue of you saying you saw iton Instagram about twenty twenty one, November
twenty twenty one, that was justabout because I mean, in the city
of Los Angeles, say, we'rehaving big problems at the same time,
so this was pretty common. Absolutely. So at this point you get to
the vehicle, you notice you seethe two individuals inside, men Choka and
a Roscoe. So what do youdo first? I mean, where do
(13:35):
you go first? Where do youreyes go first? And where do your
hands go first? So, firstof all, anything that we think might
be evidence, we're going to identifythat our forensic identification specialist is We're going
to direct them to take photographs ofthe entire scene before we even touch it.
(13:56):
Once that's complete, now we labelall the evidence that we see as
items one, two, three,four on up. And those placards are
laid down, and then the forensicidentification specialist will photograph the scene again with
those placards in place. Once that'scomplete. Generally, now we're going to
(14:22):
call the coroner in and the cornerinvestigators going to arrive and so they're going
to do their investigation of the victim'sremains were present for that. We're photographing
that as that's occurring. Quite oftenduring those times you find additional pieces of
evidence that you didn't visually see,that might be under somebody or under an
(14:43):
item that you don't move initially.So you had the one individual I believe
you said it was Manchocca was thepassenger, right, No, Manchacca was
the driver. Yes, so Oroscoewas in the passenger seat. And what
was his condition like when you sawhim? You said he'd been shot multiple
(15:05):
times in the upper torso did itlook like he was trying to get out
of the car or did it looklike there was any defensive wounds. It
looked like he was possibly caught bysurprise and unable to react to what occurred.
As that happened. By evidence ofthe driver being partially out of the
vehicle, it appears he was tryingto get out of the vehicle when he
(15:26):
was shot and killed. And that'sthat's kind of where I was headed,
because you know, you said thathis body was out of the car and
his leg was sort of inside thecar, right, yes, can you
tell me something like that? Whowas shot first? I can only surmise,
but from appearance, sakes, Iwould say that the passenger was probably
(15:48):
shot first. What did that tellyou? Well, it told it told
me where the shooter was in proximityto the v vehicle, and that was
based on cartridge casings that were atthe scene. So we believe that the
suspect approached the vehicle from the passengerside and fired through the open window of
(16:12):
the victim's vehicle. Oh so throughso in front of the Rusco and then
hit minshaka. Yes, then okay, that makes sense. So does it
looked like they approached They were onthe street then, right, So it
had to have been during the takeover. Multiple people were on there, so
(16:34):
they were on the street absolutely,and there was probably a car parked next
to that victim vehicle at the timethis was happening. There's no doubt in
my mind that people saw this happeningand saw these suspects. Suspect flee the
location. I believe he had tohave gotten into a car and left and
(16:55):
somebody saw that. Unfortunately, wedon't have that information. When we come
back, we'll take more on thiscase of double murder in Compton, But
first, this is unsolved. WithSteve Gregory on kf I Am six forty
time now for a news update.Kf I Am six forty live everywhere on
(17:15):
the iHeartRadio app. I'm Steve Gregory. This is unsolved. If you're listening
on the app, you can sendus a tip about a case, a
story, idea, or a commententabout the show. Just tap the red
microphone on the app and record yourmessage. Welcome back to the Los Angeles
(17:40):
County Sheriff's Department, Thomas Ibureau.We're speaking with Sergeant Mike Austin. He's
telling us about a double murder fromNovember fourteenth, twenty twenty one. Happened
just before one am. Two youngmen, nineteen year old Javier man Chaka
and twenty two year old One Arousco. We're sitting in a vehicle during a
street takeover when both were gunned downand before the break. The sergeant was
(18:00):
walking us through how he and hispartner approached the scene on the street.
It was the nineteen hundred block ofNorth Bullis Road and near the intersection of
Bullis and Pine in Compton. Sergeant, one of the things you said in
earlier segment was something that baffled youwas the number of cartridges found up away
(18:22):
from the scene, further up thestreet. How many casings were found at
the near the vehicle, If memoryserves me correct, I believe it was
somewhere around ten round ten. Anddid that match the wounds in the two
bodies, It would correlate it towhat we were seeing on the victims,
and then can you account for theshells up the road? Eventually we did.
(18:45):
We ended up getting a witness thatwas watching the street race when the
shooting began. That witness wasn't ableto provide us any information as to what
had happened to one or Javier.They were able to tell us that after
(19:06):
the shooting occurred where these two wereshot, they heard the shots ring out.
An individual in a car parked overby where the other cartridge casings were
reached out of his moon roof andbegan shooting in the air. So we
were able to determine that most likelyit was completely unrelated to what was happening
(19:29):
to our victims, because there wasthere no ballistics match. There's nothing that
matched anything, and and it totallymade sense. We've been told on multiple
occasions there's individuals at these street racesnow that just shoot into the air celebratory
gunfire and they call it or somethingof that nature nature. But yeah,
we were pretty much felt pretty certainthat it was just unrelated and it probably
(19:55):
in response to hearing some gunfire,these guys went, you know, and
busted some rounds into the air.So how did you identify these guys?
Did they have ID on them?So slowly but surely we were able to
identify them. The vehicle was registeredto somebody with the same last name as
Jabier, and then we were ableto the detectives before I got there,
(20:19):
actually handed us information on who theythought these individuals were, and it ended
up being there. They pulled DMVphotos and we can look and go,
yeah, that's that's him. Yeah, then are you the one that's tasked
with notifying next to kin? Yes? How did that go that day?
So that took place later that dayMy partner and I went to the residence
(20:48):
of one of the families and spoketo the mom and she was devastated,
as you can imagine. And thenthe the mom that was the mother of
Juana Roscoe Um. And one ofthe things I'll go back on is we
had run these guys criminal histories,okay, UM one and and Javier didn't
(21:11):
have much of anything on their history. U Javier had some minor offense when
he was a juvenile, uh one. The only thing he had was some
driving related offenses. So now we'renot knowing is there a gang affiliation here
or anything. We're not seeing anyof that with these two guys, So
(21:32):
why would they be targeted? Andso when we meet mom uh you know,
we tried to get some baseline informationfrom her. We had to interview
her again later because she was sodevastated over this um. And then when
we we we also contacted Javier's mom. I think she actually came to the
(21:53):
scene, if I memory serves mecorrect. Um. She obviously was also
devastated, but she was really notable to provide us with much information about
her son, which was bothersome becausewe could never figure out, you know,
where he lived during this whole thing, and he was driving a newer
(22:15):
vehicle. You know, did hehave a job? No, Like,
okay, what was he doing formoney? How is he paying for this
vehicle? You know, things thatmost parents can can offer you answers to
she was unable to, especially atthe Yes. Yes, nineteen and twenty
two. Yeah, so then didyou find out then you were talking about
(22:37):
Manchaka's mom being on the scene.Had she already found out about this before
you had a chance to speak withher? Yes. So one of the
things we learned was that these twoindividuals had only known each other for a
short period of time. The momsdid not know each other, did not
(22:59):
know how these two met. Sothat was perplexing too, Like, how
did these two guys end up ina car together. They'd known each other,
by our estimate, for maybe amonth or two. What we learned
as we went along was that theyboth had an interest in the street racing
scene, and that's probably what broughtthem together. Yeah. This issue with
(23:26):
the kind of the you know,the parents not knowing what the kids are
doing, especially young men or youngkids in general, that's not too surprising,
I suppose, But did you getanything out of the parents or the
moms at all that could put youdown any kind of a path. Yes,
Initially, Juan had a girlfriend,and we believe when we interviewed her,
(23:55):
she had spoken to them throughout theevening. She was facetiming with these
guys, and his girlfriend was alittle annoyed with him because he was being
out so late and he had togo to work the next morning, and
she was telling him to get home, and Javier or excuse me, Juan
had had facetimed his girlfriend and hesaid, yeah, they're about done and
(24:15):
he's going to come home. SoJuan's girlfriend basically told us that there might
have been somebody else in the carwith them, and so that kind of
was an investigative clue, like ifthere was somebody in that car with them
when they were out, and aboutwhere was that person now because they hadn't
(24:37):
come forward to us. We laterreceived a wee tip that this might have
been over a girl, and sowe started digging into that and it really
didn't go anywhere with us during thisinvestigation. But our belief is there they
(25:00):
have been somebody else in that caror was with them and not in the
car at the time. They wereshot. Maybe they were up watching the
race or up close as people liketo get real close to this. We
don't know, so I'm going topause right there. When we come back,
we'll dig more on this case fromtwenty twenty one. But first,
this is Unsolved with Steve Gregory onkf I AM six forty. Time now
(25:21):
for a news update kf I AMsix forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
I'm Steve Gregory, and this isUnsolved. Welcome back to the Los
(25:44):
Angeles County Sheriff's Department Humic Side Bureauin Monterey Park. We've been talking with
Sergeant Mike Austin. He's been breakingdown a double murder that happened November fourteenth,
twenty twenty one, just before oneam in the nineteen hundred block of
North Bullis Avenue in Compton. Beforethe break, sergeant, you were talking
a little bit about someone may havebeen in the car with Javier Minchaka and
(26:07):
Juana Rosco the night that they wereshot, and you were sort of figuring
that out. You found out thatone had a girlfriend, and the girlfriend
told you that there might have beensomeone else in that car or any idea
who that could have been. Soshe said she was having a conversation with
her her boyfriend, Juan, andthat Juan had said that this girl that
(26:30):
was in the car with them,So it was a girl. We believe
it was a girl. Was agirlfriend of Javier's. Oh, okay,
So, but you had also mentionedthat this entire attack might have been motivated
by a girl or jealous ears.We did get a wee tip that said
something of that nature. So wereally started looking hard at Javier and the
(26:53):
people he was associated with. Wefound a female of interest in the case,
and we went and interviewed her andtalked to her, and she was
with him that day. However,she had told us that she hates the
street races and that she did notgo to the street race with him.
(27:15):
We had text messages on phones thatcorroborated her information, and we did location
data on her phone which showed thatshe had parted ways with Javier at two
or three in the afternoon that day. So did he have other girlfriends?
He talked to a lot of girls, but we were never able to really
(27:37):
identify anybody specifically that might have beenin that car. The car that the
two young men were sitting in wasit stationary? I mean, was it
sitting still or was it moving?It was part, it was part.
You said you had some video,but you saw mostly on social media platforms.
(27:57):
Right, No surveillance video was crossfrom Walmart. Right. Yeah,
so Walmart, as you know,has great video, and there was businesses
in the area that had some video. We pulled the Walmart video. It
was such a distance to where youcould see the pandemonium of the street race
occurring, but it offered us nodetails of anything that occurred specifically. We
(28:22):
got a couple of other places withvideo looked at that. It just didn't
offer us any information that we werehoping to get from it. You talked
about earlier that you ran these twoyoung men's backgrounds and nothing came up in
terms of gang relation gang affiliation.But that doesn't necessarily mean it couldn't been
(28:42):
some sort of a gang hint.Right, We're open to any possibility on
this now. As we were lookinginto this, I started contacting some people
who are in the street racing scene, law enforcement wise, and I spoke
to an officer I don't remember hisname, from the California Way Patrol,
and we believe Javier was part ofsome sort of car club, and talking
(29:07):
to the HP officer who's on atask force directly involved, he has been
pushing because some of these car clubsthat are affiliated with these street races are
acting like gangs now. And sothere's a group of individuals who were associated
(29:29):
with Javier that ended up showing upat the crime seeing. You know,
during the day we interviewed them.They really didn't offer any useful information as
to this incident. But he wasin some sort of car club. When
you say they didn't offer you anyuseful information, is it because they didn't
know anything or they didn't want totell you anything. I'm suspecting a little
(29:52):
bit of both. You know.There are hopes that one of the these
individuals knows something that they would comeforward, And I reach out every now
and then to these guys trying toget information and open the lines of communication.
(30:12):
And again we're hoping that using thismechanism and others via the press,
that somebody comes up with a motiveas to why this happened. At the
very least, we still don't havea motive. Was this in this area
in the nineteen hundred block of Northbullis is that gang territory of any kind.
(30:34):
Well, it's the city of Compton, you know, and there's various
gag. I think every square mileat Compton's claimed by somebody, but this
specific area it's nicer homes. Peoplecalled because they were annoyed by the street
race. You know. There wasmultiple canvassings that took place on the residents
(30:56):
that backed up to the street.Most people reported the noise, they heard
what they thought were gunfire or wasgunfire, but nothing that offered us any
evidence. I remember covering this initialpress conference when you announced a reward,
and did you get anything from thepress conference? Unfortunately no. I was
(31:21):
quite disappointed because we had a bigpress conference, we had both moms here,
get it up and pleaded the publicfor information, and we did not
get one phone call generated as aresult of that press conference. But you're
absolutely convinced that someone saw what happenedand knows exactly what happened. I'm absolutely
(31:41):
convinced of that. So what's yourmessage to them? Please call us,
tell us why this happened. Wehave two grieving families that want answers,
and I want to be able togive them those answers they deserved that.
I don't think these two individuals deservedwhat happened to them, and I would
like to bring these families some sortof closure in this case and bring justice
(32:05):
to these families. Sergeant Mike Coston, La County Sheriffs Departments, SMIC Side
Bureau, thank you for your time. Yes, sir, thank you.
As of this airing, there wasa forty thousand dollars reward offered in the
case, and you can reach outto the Unsolved Team or contact Homicide Bureau.
Coming up, we go across thehall to the Sheriff's Department's Cold Case
unit, where Detective rich Tomlin breaksdown a case of an Army veteran who
was gunned down in front of hisbrother's house in Lancaster. But first,
(32:30):
this is unsolved. With Steve Gregoryon kf I AM six forty time now
for a news update. Los AngelesCounty Sheriff's Department Cold case number zero one
(32:59):
two zero seven one four six dashone one two one zero one one the
murder of thirty year old Nathan Taylor. Detective Rich Tomlin's been with the cold
(33:20):
case unit for a few years andhe's a friend of the show. He
called to tell us about a disturbingcase out of Lancaster. An Army veteran
who served three tours overseas was murderedafter he pulled up to the home of
his brother. Tomlin gives us thedisturbing details of the murdered military man.
On April twenty first, twenty twelve, about ten minutes after midnight on a
Saturday, Nathan Taylor, aged thirty, was killed in the seven hundred block
(33:45):
of West Avenue, aged seven inLancaster. This area is a residential neighborhood
with single family homes, and whatwe understand about this case is that deputies
responded to a gunshot victim call forservice. When they arrived, they saw
(34:06):
Nathan slumped over the steering wheel ofhis white nineteen ninety six Cadillac Sedan.
He was parked in front of aresidence. And what caught the deputy's attention
he was obviously suffering from gunshot moonsto his upper torso, the car was
running, and he had an unwrappedburrito in his lap. At the scene,
(34:31):
they spoke to Nathan's brother, Patrick, and Patrick told them the following.
Patrick said his brother Nathan had calledhim a few minutes earlier and said
that he was in the neighborhood andthat he wanted to stop by and visit
him. But right before he's gonnastop by, he's gonna grab something to
eat. So Patrick said he isin the backyard just waiting for his brother,
(34:52):
when suddenly he heard six or sevengunshots. He ran outside and he
saw his brother slumped over the wheelof the car, and he immediately started
screaming for neighbors to call nine oneone. Patrick also mentioned when he walked
outside, he saw three young menrunning down the street around the corner,
(35:13):
and there were hopping fences and outof his view. So at that point
deputies arrived. They're trying to sortthings out. They've talked to a few
witnesses in the area, and someoneactually identified that one house. Seeing three
individuals run into a particular house ona street around the corner, deputies immediately
(35:37):
got a search warrant and entered intothat residence. There they spoke to three
young men who told them the followingThey had been walking down the street earlier
when a red car he believed itwas a Honda, with two African American
(35:58):
males inside mad dogged them, basicallymeaning that they were giving them dirty looks.
The car slowed down, they werelooking at them, and then they
continued driving. These three young mendidn't think too much of it, continued
walking when suddenly they saw that samered car pull next to a white Cadillac
(36:21):
that was parked on the street.They heard several gunshots, believing that those
gunshots came from that red car,and the red car had now suddenly accelerated
away. Believing that that car wasgoing to circle around and now shoot at
them. But at the opporpites ofthat car were going to shoot at them,
they ran and they entered into thehouse. So what initially was believed
(36:45):
to be a strong case with obvioussuspects turned out to be just another witness,
if you will, a clue towhat happened during this investigation. At
the time, the Handling homicide detectives, who have since retired and moved out
(37:07):
of state, said that they receivedthe flood of information, more so regarding
who the victim, Nathan Taylor,was very sad. Basically, what they're
telling the detectives at the time,Nathan had moved to the area around nineteen
(37:30):
ninety seven, had moved to theLancaster area with his family. His family
was a military family. His fatherhad retired from the Air Force after doing
twenty plus years. He had twosisters, Rachel and Kinsey, who had
also served time in the military.So after graduating, Nathan, following in
(37:52):
his family's footsteps, joined the USArmy, where he served eight years,
topping out at the rank of sergeant. He served three tours in Iraq in
Afghanistan, and upon completing his time, had recently left the military and was
(38:15):
attending Antelope Valley College where he wasstudying computer software engineering. He was close
to graduating at the time of hismurder, and it didn't back then and
still to this day, is puzzling. Why was he shot, Why was
(38:36):
he targeted? Was he targeted?And he's basically assassinated in an area that
he had grown up. And beforewe get back to Detective Tomlin, I
(39:24):
want to take this opportunity to thankyou for making us a part of your
weekend and if you're listening through ourpodcast, thanks for downloading. There are
many ways to contact the Unsolved teamif you have an idea for a case,
a comment, or a tip aboutone of the cases. We've covered.
If you happen to be listening onthe live stream through the iHeartRadio app,
we've made it really easy to hitus up. Just press that red
(39:45):
microphone button it's called the talk backfeature and leave us a message. Or
you can always style pound two fiftyfrom your cell phone and say the keyword
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your message, email the team unsolvedat iHeartMedia dot com. That's unsolved at
(40:06):
iHeartMedia dot com. Now, ifyou're giving us an idea for an unsolved
case, please give us as muchdetail as possible. In my experience,
police and sheriff's departments don't have alot of resources to research every random case
that comes up, So if youprovide a name, dates, locations,
and other pertinent information, that reallyhelps put your idea higher up on the
(40:27):
list. Much more with Detective richTomlin from the Eli County Sheriff's Cold Case
Unit. But first, this isunsolved with Steve Gregory on kf I am
six forty time. Now for anews update. KFI AM six forty live
(40:58):
everywhere on the iHeartRadio. I'm SteveGregory. This is unsolved. If you're
listening on the app, you cansend us a tip about a case,
a story idea, or a commentabout the show. Just tap the red
microphone on the app and record yourmessage. Welcome back. We are inside
(41:30):
of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department'sHomicide Bureau talking with cold Kit Detective Rich
Tomlin, who's been laying out thetragic death of Nathan Taylor, a thirty
year old former Army sergeant who servedthree tours in rock in Afghanistan, only
to be gunned down in his hometownof Lancaster. And he was about to
(41:52):
graduate from Antelope Valley College with adegree in engineering. So, Detective Tomlin,
before the break, you were tellingus that you know this. Basically,
this guy was a saint, lovedby all you know. My first
question is going to be always isdo you believe this guy was targeted and
didn't have any game connections. No, I believe reviewing the file, listening
(42:15):
to interviews that were conducted at thattime, and trying to conduct new interviews,
it appears that he was the victimof being in the wrong place at
the wrong time. I won't sayyou mistaken identity per se, but being
in the wrong place in the wrongtime, why why wouldn't you not say
(42:36):
mistaken identity? Mainly because of wherethe shooting occurred. Apparently back in twenty
twelve, that area had two factionsfighting with each other, and where Nathan
was shot was in the heart ofone of the one of those areas,
(43:00):
and it was believed and information providedat that time that one specific caller actually
stated that Nathan was not the target, but it was it did occur in
that area, in that block becausethere were members of that one particular click
(43:20):
that lived on that block. Andso basically the theory is these other individuals
see a car, they probably sawhim just actually pull in a park and
they figure, well, he's parkedin that area, it's a little bit
after midnight, he's a young AfricanAmerican male, strong possibility that he might
(43:44):
be a member of this group,and they rolled up and shot him.
Okay, So I can ask,because you've done a number of cases for
our show, and I know yourbackground. You've got you've got gang gangs
in your background in terms of investigating. Is that typical for any kind of
a gang in this case, youwouldn't even elevate them to a gang,
(44:06):
but a clique is that sort ofthe difference, because I mean, the
last thing I want to do isglorify a gang here. But what I'm
trying to understand is is it typicalfor them just to shoot somebody on an
outside chance that they're getting the rightperson or don't or are they very specific
because like in cartels, for instance, cartels have a code before they kill
(44:27):
an assassinate. Does that same thingkind of you know, exist in these
gang slash clicks. Unfortunately no,And these members of these cliques will you
hear the street term put in work, meaning they'll do shootings, they'll commit
robberies, they'll commit crimes, andthat what they're trying to do is elevate
(44:49):
the status of these cliques to oneday have enough members, have enough other
individuals want to join them, andthey get elevated in the gang world if
you um and unfortunately there is norhyme or reason. Um you know,
you always hear about uh these randomshootings and unfortunately it is a part of
(45:16):
the criminal world. So you're dealingmore times than not, you're dealing with
a bunch of amateur thugs. Correct, I mean, you're dealing with just
people that are set out to bewant to be or uh, you know,
with no you know, I keepeven saying again like a code,
like an ethics. It's it's soum, you know, sort of conflicted
(45:38):
for me to even say that.But that's the reality of having covered these
kinds of cases, is that alot of these gangs and cartels as I
mentioned, operate with an ethics andthe code. And you're correct, Steve,
when you say that, And therethere is like you you'll hear that
they'll use the term when you're talkinto these gang members or cortel members.
(45:59):
You don't shoot at civilians quote unquotecivilians, Okay, But unfortunately, where
you get these youngsters and these individualsthat were described possible suspects they were uh,
late teens, early twenties, youhave these guys who are just so
bent on trying to make a namefor themselves that they're reckless. And there
(46:20):
they are not thinking clearly, anybodywho picks up a gun and shooting at
somebody that they don't even know havenever seen, then I thinking clearly for
no reason. So in that aspect, and again, you know, we
have to look an investigator has tolook at everything with a John design,
(46:44):
even the victim. And in thiscase, Nathan was a star, if
you will. There's there's nothing inhis background. Um. It's a very
tragic thing that occurred, and atthe time it heard, it received literally
received national attention. Here's a youngman who had just come back from serving,
(47:07):
as I mentioned earlier, three toursover in Afghanistan and Iraq, only
to be killed in his own neighborhood. When we come back, I want
to explore a little bit more aboutwho is family is and if there was
anything that the family can help youwith. Also, you touched on something
I wanted to also go back to, and it's the three guys that witnessed
(47:30):
it. I want to talk alittle bit about that. But first,
This is Unsolved with Steve Gregory oncamp I Am six forty Time now for
a news update kf I AM sixforty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
I'm Steve Gregory. This is Unsolved. Welcome back to the Los Angeles County
(47:58):
Sheriffs Department's Homicide Bureau. Were speakingwith cold case Detective Rich Tomlin, a
friend of the show who has beenbriefing us on the case of Nathan Taylor,
thirty year old former sergeant with theArmy, served eight years serving the
country, served three tours in Iraqand Afghanistan, only to be gunned down
(48:19):
in front of his brother's home inLancaster, the town that he grew up
in. So, Detective, beforethe break, I was going to ask
you a little bit about the threeguys that witnessed. They say they heard
the shooting. They didn't necessarily seethe shooting, or did they see the
shooting or they just heard the shooting. No, they did not see the
shooting. They heard it. Theyheard it. But this they said that
(48:40):
the same red car that they sawearlier that gave them sort of a dirty
look, was also seen speeding awayfrom the scene, presumably filled with the
shooter. Yes, and that alarmedthem. They thought, well, these
guys will come back and now possiblyshoot at us, So they ran from
(49:01):
the area. So what do youwhat do you know about these three guys
looking through the case, They hadno involvement. Again, they wrong place,
wrong time, if you will.Um. They were forthcoming, two
(49:21):
of them, anyway, We're veryforthcoming U. The other third was hesitant
for unknown reasons. Does ever giveyou a red flag? Actually, no,
um, doing this job as longas I have. Everybody is different,
truly, everybody is different. Andand sometimes we believe people should you're
(49:45):
thinking people should react a certain way, and they don't. And it's nothing
nefarious, it's nothing uh sneaky.You know, you have to take it
for what it's worth. Of courseyou're going to delve in a little bit
deeper. But then you know youkind of sess it like, Okay,
this person just flat out does doesn'twant to cooperate, period, just because
(50:06):
and and you can't really get aroundthat. Okay, Well I didn't mean,
and so the meanor after you.I just had always been curious about
that, if that was the rightflag, if someone didn't want to cooperate
or be a witness. No um. And actually, um, the investigators
didn't just leave it at that.They had other witnesses. Another witness stated
(50:28):
they saw the red car stop infront of the mister Taylor's car. Um.
You had an anonymous caller state that, Um, they weren't present at
the time, but they explained thereason. Again, this one clique was
warring, if you will, withthis other clique, and they were members
(50:49):
of that they were responsible for shootingNathan. It was it was he wasn't
the intended specific target. But againbecause he was in that area, um,
at the wrong time. Did hefit that he would fit the profile
of someone being on someone's turf?Correct? Now again, Um, based
(51:10):
on all your experience covering gang cases, Um, could there have also been
a diversion call when they call itto try to divert attention to say this
beef was going on between these twoclicks and trying to lay blame somewhere else.
No, only because of a fewreasons. Number one, Nathan had
no type of record. I mean, yes, he had an outstanding record,
(51:34):
if you will, for serving hiscountry. Right, Um, there
was no You know, people willimmediately say something about, well was there
another woman involved? No, hewas engaged to be married. So it's
not that angle, if you will, it is, um. But what
I mean, But what I alsomean is that um uh. You know,
when when you see a shooting likethat and one click and or a
(51:58):
gang uh sees that this is happening, they want to deflect any attention away
from them. So they're the onesthat actually call you anonymously because you said
it was an anonymous tip, right, yes, So no, have you
ever seen that in your experience?No? Okay, no, when they
call knowing that they may have beenthe click that did it, but they're
trying to divert attention because nine timesout of ten they actually want the credit
for doing what they got it.They want they want to let the world
(52:22):
know that they are ruthless. Itmakes sense that they're that that they'll do
stuff like that. They'll again quoteunquote, put in work, got it,
got it. Sorry, didn't meanto go off on that tangent,
but you know how I go everytime it comes up something. I'm curious
about this stuff. That's a littlebit and the audience is curious too.
It's great. People need to understandthat it's okay. So these three guys
(52:45):
have been your witness, telling youeverything that they can tell you. Um,
you don't suspect that they're involved inany way, shape or form.
But these three guys, So ifthey were on the same turf as Nathan,
was there any nexus of these threeguys being connected to any of these
cliques. No, and so theywere just they were just random guys out
(53:07):
for back and back In twenty twelve, and we're just talking to reality.
The the two cliques that were atthat time warring with each other were African
American, mainly primarily ninety nine percentAfrican American males. These individuals that we
(53:28):
spoke to were Hispanic. Got okay, so, um, you're not profiling,
you're not, you know, butyou have to deal in reality too,
So no, they the mindset isif this one clique is looking for
specific lead, the other clique,who they know, are uh, filled
(53:52):
up with African American males. Sure, the Hispanic guys, they're not.
They're not going to target if youwill. What can you tell us about
the brother Patrick? You know,not too much. Patrick was the younger
brother. Nathan wanted to spend timewith him, wanted to make sure that
he was on the right path,and it was a very tragic that Patrick
(54:16):
last memory is gonna see his brothershot. Yeah, and Patrick provided at
the time whatever information that he hadavailable to you know what he saw and
yeah, that's that's pretty much that. Well, you've gotten already in this.
(54:39):
You had an anonymous phone call,you had people that came forward,
you have two well known clicks inthe area. Frankly I'm a little surprised
that you haven't at least honed inon a suspect or two. Well,
well you don't hold that thought,because we're running out of time on this
prank. When we come back,we're gonna wrap it up with rich Tollon,
(55:00):
detective with the Cold Case Unit ofthe La County Sheriff's Department. But
first, this is Unsolved with SteveGregory on KFI AM six forty time Now
for a news update. Kf IAM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio
app. I'm Steve Gregory. Thisis unsolid. Welcome back to the Los
(55:27):
Angeles County Sheriff's Department Tom Inside Bureau. We are in Monterey Park. I'm
sitting inside with rich tomon, adetective with the Cold Case Unit. We're
in a large conference room in thecenter of the bureau, and we're talking
about the case of Nathan Taylor,a thirty year old man who was killed
in front of his brother's home backin twenty twelve. Nathan was a veteran
(55:50):
of the Army, served three toursin Afghanistan and Iraq, and was gunned
down while he sat in his car. In fact, he had just gone
to something to eat, Detective beforethe break you said he was actually you
told me that his burrito was stillin his lap when he was gunned down,
so he had literally just gotten backfrom picking up something to eat.
(56:14):
Were there any surveillance video at all? I mean, so if you look
back where he picked up the burritofrom, like a drive through or a
restaurant, wherever he got it,did you think that maybe there were surveillance
video? Was he being followed youthink by this red car? Or do
you think this was just a randomthe location where he bought the burrito from,
(56:38):
video footage was obtained from there andat that time though, there was
no car behind him. So ourbelief is somewhere along the line it was
random, you know. Conjecture isthat red car knew exactly where they wanted
to go, what area that whichstreet they wanted to drive down, and
(57:00):
Nathan just happened to be parked there. As far as right before the break,
you asked the question about suspects,and that's the main reason why we
appreciate you giving us this opportunity totalk about this case. Somebody, some
(57:22):
persons obviously have to know exactly whathappened and who is involved. And what
we are hoping for is time hasnow passed. It's been a decade.
And in fact, his sister Rachelhad reached out and made a phone call
(57:43):
asking about the status of the case. And I spoke to her a couple
of months ago and she was relayingwhat happened, her perspective on things,
and I said, okay, welllet me review it, let me get
back to you first. So wehad ordered up the cage, reviewed the
facts of the case and delving moreinto it. This is definitely a case
(58:09):
that is solvable. There are cases, to be quite frank with you,
there are no witnesses. There's justnothing there. It's the old blood spot
on a street and nobody knows anythingthis one. There are strong possibilities.
And another reason why the strong possibilitiesis where it occurred. Occurred in Lancaster.
The people in Lancaster actually have avery good reputation within the law enforcement
(58:37):
arena of cooperative witnesses. So again, what I'm hoping for is the listeners
are going to hear this case,They're going to remember this case, and
they're going to be calling your stationor calling sheriff's homicide and stepping up doing
(58:57):
the right thing and pointing us inthe right direction. Okay, So what
about ring video on homes? No? No, no, what kind of
neighborhood was this? It was aresidential, single family homes, mostly retired
younger mix mix. It was amixture. It was a mixture in any
predominant ethnicity. No, it was, it was. It was also a
(59:22):
diverse Okay. So because I don'tknow that area West Avenue h H seven,
so I don't know if that's morerural or if it's more urban.
You know, I can't speak forten years ago looking at the photos.
It was a little it was acombination. How about got that you know?
Yeah, you know, but it'sdefinitely occurred in a residential neighborhood,
(59:44):
single family homes. This has gotto be highly frustrating because for the reasons
you just pointed out a second ago, this is solvable. And I mean
just listening to you telling me thatyou've had an anonymous tip, you had
witnesses, you have a car,you have a lot of things that a
lot of detectives never ever get ina case. So what's the missing piece
(01:00:06):
here? I don't know you haveto remember also, it's unfortunate, but
the reality is this, I'm pickingthis up ten years later. Yeah,
so I have to do a lotof digging. I have to, my
partner and I or the cool caseunit, we have to. We have
a lot of ground to cover,and it being so long ago, if
(01:00:28):
you will, but not that longago where people don't remember that. We
have to freshen up the interviews.We have to go back and recontact these
people and maybe they'll remember something ormaybe they've heard something over the years that
will help assist us in finding outwho is responsible for this. The three
(01:00:50):
young men that you spoke with before, have you spoken to them when you
after you've gotten the case? Notyet? Not yet, not yet,
but I plan to. They arestill in the area. They are are
they They're still a Lancaster. I'mjust gonna leave it in the area,
okay. And so two of themanyway, and so we were able to
re interview them, um more interestedin the direction of the anonymous caller.
(01:01:17):
And one thing, the detectives thatoriginally had this case, they did a
good job as far as again,when I tell you this received national attention,
it truly did. And so Iwant to be a military value.
Absolutely, absolutely, And so theywere getting a lot of clues and tips
(01:01:40):
that they had to run down thatled to nowhere. But the reality is,
if you get if somebody calls inand says something, you have to
spend the time to look into it. And so they spent a lot of
time, like what. I don'tknow how much time they spent, but
I do know they covered a lotof clues that led to nowhere. You
(01:02:04):
know, the anonymous caller, yousay, you say you kind of want
to focus in on that person aswell. When you say anonymous caller?
Did that tip come in through likea crime Stoppers? Did it come directly
to homicide Barrow? Do you rememberthat call came in directly to I don't
know how it originally came into.But the detectives actually spoke to this person.
Oh they did. Yes, Soit was an anonymous initially, but
(01:02:24):
they do have an identity on theperson. No, no, and you
get that, And we don't mindthat. I don't mind receiving a phone
call. Some money can lay itout. I don't want to give my
name, but this is who you'relooking at. This is the reason why
now if they are a natural eyewitness, and you know, you plead,
(01:02:44):
beg and do whatever you can totry to get them to step up
and give their name. But ifthey're just giving you the background. In
this case, it was a itwas a broken relationship, okay, and
someone was calling you know, soit will take whatever we can get rich
(01:03:07):
Tom won't always a pleasure. Iappreciate your help. Let's see if we
can get anyone in the Lancaster areaor someone who has any knowledge about a
case from all this we're looking atat least eleven years ago, um about
Nathan Taylor, an Army veteran whoserved eight years in the military only to
be killed in his hometown and Lancaster. You're convinced someone knows what happened exactly
(01:03:32):
and they're still around, do youthink yes? And and we are asking
the someone to do the right thing. And again, Steve, I want
to thank you for always giving usthe opportunity to profile certain cases. Always
a pleasure to detective. Thank youso much. And that's going to do
it Unsolved with Steve Gregory. Theradio show is a production of the KFI
(01:03:52):
News Department for iHeartMedia, Los Angelesand is produced by Steve Gregory and Jacob
Gonzalez. Our field engineer is TonySoaring Tino, and our digital producer is
Nate Ward. To hear this andother episodes, just download Unsolved with Steve
Gregory on the iHeartRadio app or whereveryou listen. Coming up, it's Before
the Coast with Clay Row. Butfirst, this is kf I am six
(01:04:15):
forty time now for a news update
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