Who killed a young boy in broad daylight? | Forensic Files

[Music] our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents if you feel at
anytime you need support please contact your local crisis center for suggested phone numbers for confidential support
please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website today's episode deals with a crime
committed against a child it won't be suitable for all listeners we're gonna go to chill Warren right
and even though recently changed this gray building on the right it's 59 block of Pacheco was an ice cream place so
kids would frequently hang out there that's where they get their ice cream if thing you'll notice is that the
streets tend to get pretty narrow down here they're more designed for the old I mean a lot of these houses down in this
area might have been built in the early nineteen hundred's so the streets become
a lot narrower turn right here there we go that's to the extent if two cars are coming at each other you know in
opposing directions one is gonna have to pull off so people can't go as fast in these areas in
all right no we're gonna park here and we'll in 1997 nine year-old Eric coy was living with his parents and older
brother in a central neighborhood of Martinez Northern California most Saturdays Eric played with his cousin
Hedrick who was also his best friend edrick only lived two 5-minute bike ride away from Eric I often hung out after
school and on the weekends tossing baseballs and footballs and climbing trees they did what all the local kids
did got ice cream or sweets at the store and while away the hours riding their bikes and mucking around staying out
most of the day close to edge Rick's house was the Youth Boys and Girls Club where kids from all over went to hang
out often playing basketball on the courts out the back as the weekend rolled around one would phone the others
house to see if they could play and on Saturday January 24th 1987 that's exactly what Eric did just before 11
a.m. that day he phoned his auntie Angela to see if he could visit and play with Eric at first she said he couldn't
come up but then changed her mind and said yes at 10:55 a.m. Eric got on his bike and
set off to Eric's house there was a shortcut through Martinez junior high at the bottom of his street
it was raining a little and he wanted to get to his cousin's he asked quickly so
he took the shortcut [Music] in the East Bay region of San Francisco Bay along the southern shore of the
Carquinez Strait is the city of Martinez the city is still small today with just
15,000 households over 12 square miles but in 1987 that was even smaller with a population of around 24,000 people
Martinez has views directly over the Carquinez Strait facing the city center of Benicia in the southeastern part of
Vallejo it looks over to the ridge tops of Mount Diablo and other mountains to the west of Martinez are the regional
parks and recreational areas it seems to sit in a little valley hugged on each site by other mountains or water in 1987
you would be hard-pressed to find families who didn't know each other well have at least some link to one another
it was a simple place in a time when no one worried about what their kids were doing they were all outside exploring
and playing it was just how it was the Alhambra Creek meanders its way from north to south through Martinez although
it can run low in the summer months in winter it's full and attracts otters and turtles downtown Martinez is quaint and
even now fairly unchanged from 1987 Martinez has managed to keep many of the buildings traditional just the way they
always were there is a slow pace in Martinez like a big country town there seems to be no
rush and people are friendly and warm the Main Street businesses are a mixture of local traders or mum and pop stores
and the city is famous for its antique stores and it's fair number of legal services being the county seat for
Contra Costa County and home to the County Courthouse the county jail and various other government amenities like
the county hospitals Martinez services many people outside its own population if you need county services you have to
go to downtown Martinez and with that comes a slight air of transients Martinez has always been a hub for
public transport the Amtrak national rail system has for decades had a daily route through the small city this train
runs from Emeryville near San Francisco all the way to Chicago there is also a service from Seattle to Los Angeles and
numerous other local trains bringing people from all walks of life not impossible to walk from one side of
Martinez to the other the train station is just blocks from the courthouse and likewise just blocks from the hospitals
including a mental health facility Erik coin Dee's family lived just a few large
blocks from downtown Martinez in a duplex on the corner of Willow and Warren streets a quiet suburban
neighborhood which at the time was a mixture of single dwellings duplexes and townhouses Danny and Barbara coy brought
their second son Erik into the world in 1978 while Danny was stationed in England with the military they already
had a son Jason who was three the Khoi family moved back to Martinez around the time of Eric's first birthday sometime
during the year that followed Eric's parents broke up but two years later when Eric was four they reunited and all
began living together as a family again other family members would say that Eric
was closest to his mother Barbara and his brother Jason was closer to his father Danny they lived in a corner
duplex and shared a driveway with their neighbors although many houses including
Eric's have now been redeveloped most of the homes at the time were built around
1900 the streets are narrow and homes are relatively close together including Eric's and his neighbors whose doors
were only around 10 meters from each other the local police department Fire Station and Youth Boys and Girls Club
were just a few small blocks away from Eric's house at the top of Warren Street up a slight Hill in just a minutes bike
ride is Martinez junior high school and just past the high school over the Alhambra Creek was Eric's cousin's house
edrick even today 31 years later cars still drive slowly and roll up to cornice at a relaxed pace it feels like
a neighborhood well cared for a house on Eric's old Street flies the American flag gardens are neat and school kids
huddled together opposite Martinez junior high to buy ice cream cones from a street vendor as the bell rings in
[Music] 1987 John Q was a 17 year old local kid from the neighborhood Marcus a very
simple playing town that's just wonderful and beautiful and like you said nothing and there's nothing big
about Martinez it's not a target in addition and that is nothing like that around there there's you know there's
Walmart and maybe a home you know maybe a home depot is just a very simple small
great town many me I have so much family Martinez to this day that's unbelievable
no young people who've got people who are born with a ring or raise families there don't leave because the place is
wonderful and just everyone loves it when Eric coy first started school he attended Martinez elementary a couple of
blocks from his home but he had a hard time focusing and he began to fall behind it was thought he might do better
if he attended lost hunters elementary a couple of miles away which allowed kids
to get a little more help and focus and the smaller class sizes allow Derek to have more one-on-one attention by 1987
Eric was in the third grade and into his second year at Los Lunas Elementary he had close friends and was known as a
cute and happy kid he reminded people of the character Spanky in the our gang films Eric's principal said the
following about him quote Eric was a lockable boy who was always smiling just last week he won a Good Citizen Award by
caring for the environment and returning lost articles he was watching to keep things clean without being told he had a
big smile when he got his award on Saturday January 24th 1987 after Eric got off the phone to his auntie Angela
around 10:50 5:00 a.m. he went to his room to fetch his chrome rally bike as he rolled his bike through the house he
said goodbye to his father Danny and brother Jason Danny told him to put a jacket on and to call home when he got
to East cousin's house Eric then set off on the short ride to Eric's it was an overcast morning with a little light
rain but Eric only had less than a mile to ride and with the trip taking just minutes the rain didn't bother him he
rode up Warren Street two short blocks to Martinez junior higher it was the shortcut he took to Ed ryx
the school building is at the top of a slight Hill and riding down the hill towards the baseball field and grassy
area at the back allowed Eric to gain some speed at the back of the school grounds along the fields runs the
Alhambra Creek which was pretty full at that time of year it's a wooded area with bushes and trees lining the creek
on both sides and a row of houses on the opposite side to the school there was a simple chain-link fence
separating the school from the creek the chain link fence led to the back left corner of the sports field where it
stopped for an opening for a 15 meter long concrete footbridge that went over the creek there was a narrow bridge with
three concrete steps kids would disband their bikes walk them over then jump back on at the other side on the other
side of the footbridge which is no longer there today there is a small street with houses that go right up to
the creek after going over the footbridge Eric's route would have taken him past the goodie hut which was the
local corner store where Eric and his brother often stopped to spend their pocket money the shopkeeper knew them
well it was a route he had taken countless times before at 11:30 a.m. Eric's auntie Angela found his house
looking through him because he hadn't arrived yet Eric's parents said he had left shortly before 11:00 so he should
have been there by now even if he stopped off at the goodie Hut it shouldn't have taken him this long
Eric's father Danny waited 10 minutes in case he got a call from Angela saying Eric was there but when no second call
came he could in his car and drove the route to Angela's house he couldn't drive the exact route Eric would have
ridden because of the shortcut through Martinez junior high but he drove around the outskirts of the school
Eric's uncle jumped in his car at the other end and did the same during his search he ran into Eric's mom Barbara
who had started searching on foot but there was no sign of Eric sometime between Erica leaving home and
his auntie Angela ringing to say he hadn't arrived yet a local 13 year old boy ringing to the
Boys and Girls Club on Alhambra Avenue to get to the Boys and Girls Club the 13 year old boy had written his book on the
same path that Eric had taken through Martinez junior high when he got to the footbridge at the back of the school
he saw Eric's bike and Eric lying face down on the ground close to the bridge on the school side the boy quickly rode
to the Boys and Girls Club and asked some of the other kids to come back to the bridge to help because Eric had
fallen off his bike a few of the kids from the club jumped on their bikes and made their way to the footbridge one of
those was 17 year old John Q McCullough panino watch the boys up and playing basketball and do our normal thing
playing ping pong playing pool and then one of the kids I honestly cannot remember his name he ran in the boys
club is like or someone is in to come with me to the Junior High School were like why he's all well that kid Eric I
was walking walking by the boys football by the Brit and it was the junior high school by the bridge and he's laying
facedown in the money he's not moving I was thinking oh God so me and a couple other kids ran into
the branch of the word where the bridge was from the high school and once we got
there I told I told him to stay back then walked with a bridge and I noticed Eric's bike was propped up against the
the fence that was there and wasn't mangled it was just propped up on the fence and then I walked past that and I
looked over and I saw him and he was facedown in the mud with his eyes open his throat from ear to ear and that was
the most horrific thing I've ever seen and all the other kids are like what's going on what's going on and I couldn't
stop them obviously I told me fish they should learn if they parted from behind me in the they looked
in there I go what's going on like I don't know I didn't want to say anything yeah in my young age I knew what was
what what happened I knew he was dead because you know there was so much blood and that his eyes were wide open and he
wasn't moving and that that picture I can draw your picture to those days horrifying
well not in them but their profits in my head it may just still scares me just to
see that again and so you know I try to get that try to get them away from the area and I looked
around and didn't see anybody else and then I ran into one of the neighbors knocked on the door and said well
there's a kid over here by the junior high school is waste of money it's not moving you know and it's like this
wrapped up like I don't know what to what I should do can you follow police and so the probably you know should walk
topless right now closes door then I had all the kids with me um by the bridge not by never air
thank God but by the bridge and then the cops showed up is a fire fire truck showed up there right well you know
what's going on I told him what's wrong why I saw they walk over there and then the legation when the fire of day she
started rushing over there and I heard what I'm saying that he has a slight pulse I was thinking that's impossible
but not okay but um the main kid that found him the police took him to one of the patrol cars to try to calm him down
because once he realized what was happening I really remember that he started to freak out a little bit
because of what he had seen the fire department were the first responders to arrive when they found Eric he was lying
face down with his head tilted to one side and his eyes open they quickly rolled him over to perform
life-saving procedures and discovered multiple stab wounds to his torso he had some superficial defensive wounds to his
hands and forearm and his throat had been cut ear to ear there was nothing that could
be done it was already gone Martinez Police Department arrived on the scene soon after while he was out
searching Danny coy saw some police officers huddled down the end of the street leading to the back of the school
so he pulled up leaned out his window and asked them if they had seen a young boy the officers asked a need a police
car over Danny Boy quote I just kept saying to myself that he's not dead he's hurt but I knew he was dead the
policeman told me your son's been murdered all I could say was why [Music] Erik's mother Barbara and Derek's uncle
pulled up at the school when they saw it on his truck Danny walked over to them and said Eric's been murdered
Barbara became so distraught the police had to take her to one of their vehicles and drive her home
police took over the scene and collected evidence with Eric being found within minutes of his attack either the killer
got in and got out very quickly or the killer saw the thirteen-year-old boy who found Derick riding towards them and
fled a red compact style pickup truck was seen in the vicinity of the crime scene that morning when police searched
there was no sign of it but they did contact the owner of a similar truck which was parked on a nearby street that
day they learned that a father and son had been sitting inside the truck waiting for the rain to stop so they
could get out and throw their baseball in the field at the back of 19's junior high but they didn't see or hear
anything suspicious it had been raining a little so police were able to collect some footprints from the scene
I remember a few days afterward that the prop sent coming were so gravitas the kids that had seen what we saw and asked
us to make foot impressions in because I'm a part of the new high school there was a fan pit for the long jumper for PE
year and track every else well I guess they have found a footprint in the sand that that morning track and empathy for
whatever this kind of clean so there's onyx foot impressions after cross-checking the footprints found at
the scene against all the kids who had been there as well as first responders they were unable to match them to
anybody an extensive neighborhood canvass was carried out with all hands on deck at the time there were 37
members of the Martinez Police Department and doors were not done all the way along Eric's route around
Martinez junior higher and surrounding areas people were asked if they had seen or heard anything suspicious that
morning police made detailed notes of each person they spoke with and also jot it down and ran all vehicle license
plates in the area they spoke with the people from the homes which sat right up close to the footbridge at the back of
Martinez junior high one of them was the elderly man John Q had run to for help and who had called 9-1-1 in the second
home from the footbridge was an elderly woman she didn't see or hear anything prior to the kids yelling for help
she said quote it's always been so quiet around here the only time we ever have any noise is when kids go across the
bridge to go to school or play detectives looked into records of all inmates that were discharged from the
local jail during that week being only a few blocks from the crime scene they followed up on every name but no one
stood out as a suspect [Music] when police sat down with the coy family they realized how small the time frame
was a very exploder I left time at approximately 10:55 a.m. he would have gotten to the footbridge
just before 11:00 and he was found by the thirteen-year-old boy heading to the Boys and Girls Club just
15 minutes later why would someone viciously attack a nine-year-old boy in broad daylight
Eric's family had no idea his grandmother Ruth said he just loved people but he would not take up with
strangers he was a street smart boy his father Danny sitting on the back doorstep of their house spoke to a
reporter he was wavering between being devastated and angry quote he was a very active kid and he loved that bike the
good kids are the ones taken from us when asked about the killer then he said I would love to watch the son of a [ __ ]
door they could let me in the cage and I would strangle him myself we hope you're enjoying today's show
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visiting Casper calm / case file terms and conditions apply when speaking to the press on Monday
Martinez Police Chief Robert mark with confirmed they were doing everything they could to track down the killer but
they had no answers quote we have recovered some evidence at the scene it's a baffling case right now we have
no suspects no motives and no weapons there is reason to believe the suspect had been lying in wait prior to contact
with the victim all the resources of the department are involved we are looking at anything and everything
we aren't limiting ourselves as Martinez police awaited results from the autopsy
they make contact with the FBI and the Department of Justice to aid in the investigation the FBI was asked to
complete a psychological profile of the killer police set up security around Martinez Junior High and had an officer
stationed at the footbridge as kids started arriving at school on Monday morning a 24 hour hotline was set up for
anyone with information Police Chief Mark Worth said he was confident the case would be solved the autopsy
confirmed Derek's death was caused by multiple stab wounds to his torso and a single wound to his neck the murder
weapon was believed to be a 6-inch double-edged knife or sharp object of some sort while investigating
circumstances surrounding the lead up to Eric's murder police are certain there had been an argument between the Kois
and their neighbors the night before January 23rd the Kois female neighbor Alicia who they shared a driveway with
had complained to Barbara that Eric's bike was blocking the pathway to her front door Alicia's brother Benny was
staying with her as he often did and that day the day before Eric's murder he and a friend Eddie were fixing a car at
the front of their place Eric's bike sparked an argument between Barbara and Alicia
and Benny and Eddie also chimed in Barbara called Erik's father Danny who was at a friend's house and asked him to
return home when Danny arrived the argument continued between him and Benny verbal threats were made against the
Kois including the following quote get your kid to movies bark or I'm gonna kill him the argument was heated enough
for Danny to call the police it was apparent there had been some animosity between the families but there was
nothing to suggest the threat was anything more than a terrible coincidence on Tuesday January 27th
Benny who hadn't been staying at his sister Alicia's place since the murder three days earlier got wind that the
police wanted to speak with him so he attended Martinez police station voluntarily and was interviewed he
confirmed that there was a verbal altercation and there had been arguments before between him and the Kois about
him working on cars in the driveway his version of the altercation was slightly different to Barbara and Danny's after
his interview Benny was released and was not considered a suspect two witnesses came forward during the investigation
and said that on the morning of the murder they were parked on Susannah Street at the northwestern end of
Martinez junior high eric was found about 200 meters south of their location at the southwestern corner of the school
grounds the two witnesses saw a man walking down the ramp from behind the school and then walk onto Susannah
Street away from the noticing he was described as being of Italian or possibly Latin descent 18 to 21 years
old 5 feet 8 inches tall 165 pounds muscular build with medium length combed back black hair he had very piercing
dark eyes alot complexion and possibly a few acne scars on each cheek he was wearing medium faded Levi's jeans
a lay-by jacket like colored tennis shoes and he was carrying a collapsible short umbrella this person was also seen
by two kids in the area at the time of the murder police confirmed when releasing a
composite sketch of this man to the public that they simply wanted to talk to him he wasn't necessarily a suspect
police chief mark with quote we want to talk to this man because he was in the area we don't have any suspects
Danny and Barbara coy believed the description of the man sounded familiar and they may have seen him before
despite a large amount of media attention the man was never identified the composite sketch can be found in the
show notes the crime scene was in close proximity to a lot of people there are the houses just on the other side of the
footbridge there were the two witnesses in the car on Susannah Street with a view into the school grounds there were
kids playing basketball at the high school who were just about on top of the crime scene but no one heard anything
not one scream was heard from Eric Detective Sergeant Dave mother's and detective miles rumensin drove us around
the side and showed us the close proximity of the footbridge to Susannah Street where the man from the sketch was
seen by the two witnesses so where we're taking you guys now is Susannah where we
looked out to from inside the school just to kind of see where that witness was that given give us a description
train ahead he sees a person walking come between the the notch and the trees there's an actual path that comes down a
cement path that comes down from the front of school when that was installed I'm not quite sure but that I'm sure
that path has been there for a long time if you look across the field you can see
where we were standing yeah my recollection is one from the eyewitness that we're in one of these
off the road with parking spaces waiting it's raining person comes walking across
the the first in the sketch looks because I'm like I think like the quote-unquote a hard stare and then
continues walking a westerner so look how small this is so I mean this way you have houses everywhere you go that way
you have kids on the basketball court you go to the left there's that big is beautiful
we then driver in mountainous where we really got an appreciation of just how close everything was to the crime scene
and we're gonna come to the area where the Boys and Girls Club is and a fire station and then I'll show you the the
other interesting feature so here's the firehouse called station 14 and on the backside of the firehouse is a rec
center or Boys and Girls Club you see all of that on your left you might see some kids that are out in the area but
they were the cars were parked in addition to this park the next thing you notice on your left is the Martinez
police station so that's how close right now it has still been here I mean look at that building
so that's here's the City Hall complex we're talking four and a half blocks Martinez was officially dealing with the
first murder of a child in the city's history the community was better known for burglaries and drug possession than
murders let alone the brutal slaying of a nine-year-old child due to the grief and emotional reaction of the local
community staff from the Contra Costa County Mental Health Department hosted a community support meeting parents who
had always felt Martinez was a safe and quiet area where near fearful most said that would be escorting their children
to and from school until the murderer was caught traffic jams were caused at the school in the days after the murder
as the number of cars to pick up students quadrupled at Eric's school as well as Martinez junior higher
counselors and nurses were made available to all students Eric's principal said that teachers were
looking for students who were showing signs of distress over the motor and referrals were made to the school
psychologist if needed a representative of the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Department visited classrooms to talk
about safety children were reminded of routine safety tips including not talking to strangers walking home with a
partner in staying on major roads one local parent said quote this is the first thing that's happened around to
you that's really scary you hear about how these things happen in other places but this was right in our own backyard
I'll never let my kid walk to school again many of the children Eric's age didn't really understand what had
happened the little kids who was hard to comprehend many of them knew something bad had happened to Eric and he wasn't
coming back but it would be years before it really sank him we spoke to Sarah not her real name
about what it felt like to be a kid in Martinez of aterna a city changed by a cron that many felt
could have been any one of them in January 1987 I was 8 years old and in the second grade I lived in an area
known as the townhomes off Pine Street the road that runs in between where Eric lived and Martinez junior high as an 8
year old I remember the Challenger tragedy Halley's Comet scenes stand by me in the movie theatres and Iroquois
murder Eric crossed over my street that morning on his bike we didn't hear the news until later in the afternoon the
son of a family friend had been one of the kids that had discovered Eric's body his mom had called my mom to tell her
what had happened I can't recall the exact moment she told me however I do remember seeing it later in the news and
then my mom pointing it out to me in the paper the next day it took a while for it to sink in exactly what had happened
at first it seemed like there were various rumors of what had happened floating around all we knew as kids was
that there was a child killer on the loose in our town and the freedoms I enjoyed as a child changed somewhat
having just seen standby me the previous summer I felt the parallels with that story
how the kids had found a body and how they came to understand death through that it was surreal and did not hit home
for a bit I felt more put out that I was no longer allowed to go wherever I wanted looking back I realized I really
didn't understand at the time what had happened I didn't know that I even knew what murder meant or the violence Eric
endured I certainly didn't comprehend the timeliness of his murder and how it happened only a few minutes after
leaving his house on what was such a short bike ride at the time I never realized how brazen an act it was it was
a time when you went to other kids houses to watch cartoons on Saturday morning or if you were playing outside
all day which is all we did you would only check in at lunch or whatever time your mom said to come home we never ever
played inside unless we had to there was nothing scary about the outside world to
me we had nothing to be afraid of as kids It was as if we believed all adults were watching out for us they were there
to make sure we were safe Eric was crossing a footbridge maybe 25 steps from one end to the other and was
murdered in those 25 steps in the middle of the morning with doors and windows and people just shot away the footbridge
is gone now it's overgrown and for most people they wouldn't even know it had ever been there but for the people of
Martinez for us kids and those around at the time we will never forget it and we
will never forget Eric [Music] in the first week of the investigation over 200 tips were called in Police
Chief Mark Worth said there was some really good leads which they were following up and some not-so-good leads
there was something else significant about the day erry coy was murdered first city not known for violent crime
and only one murder on record the entire previous year there were two murders that day only four hours after Iroquois
murder and only a five minute drive away the 24 year old man was found stabbed and bleeding in the gutter outside his
home just outside the city limits he died later that evening Contra Costa County Sheriff's handled the case and
although it was hard to believe the two murders had occurred so close together on the same day investigators believed
the 24 year old victim knew his killer and it was completely unrelated to Erik Weisz murder Erik's funeral was held the
Thursday after his death and as family and friends mourned inside the funeral home police continued to patrol the
streets of Martinez hoping for someone or something to show up but nothing did two weeks after the murder the people of
Martinez open to their newspapers and were given a glimmer of hope that the perpetrator may have been found the
suspect in a robbery had been arrested and appeared in court he resembled the composite sketch of the men walking out
of Martinez junior high on the morning of Eric's murder the robbery suspect was 16 year old Luke Elora and Martinez
police were eager to interview him a few days after Martinez police released their composite sketch police in
Atherton an hour's drive south of Martinez released a composite sketch of a robbery
suspect although there were some differences the two sketches were similar enough that are paid to the
immediate interest of investigators 16 year old Luke Alaura armed with a gun robbed a couple in
Atherton awake after Iroquois murder he locked the couple in their basement and ransacked and burglar
their house he fled with three and a half thousand dollars worth of jewelry the couples vehicle and their 17 year
old daughter Gina Colora hadn't kidnapped Gina though that were working together Gina had a scored
a Kahlua into her family home and stood by as he cut the phone line and locked her parents in the basement after
fleeing Atherton they went on a crime spree committing abductions and robberies in Reno and Las Vegas before
eventually being caught in Riverside County Luke Collura was only 16 years old but there were similarities between
his sketch and the sketch released on Martinez police after Iroquois murder the sketches were completed by the same
sketch artist Tom Makris of San Jose Police Department a highly regarded artist who often helped other
departments with their cases he was involved in composite sketches in the East Area rapist case covered in case 53
of case file the Martinez sketch and the Atherton sketch of Luca Laura showed similar facial characteristics but other
details of the sketches were different Makris said it wasn't unusual for two of his sketches to have similarities he
also said his sketches should be treated as guideposts rather than exact descriptions quote all of it is subject
to distortion because of problems with witnesses recall and the circumstances of their observations the width of the
face and the hairstyle was similar but the man's hair in the Martinez drawing was collar length and wavy while the
hair in Luca Laura sketch was straight and longer the Martinez sketch also showed darker eyes
although only 16 luke Colora could have easily passed 421 as the man seen leaving martinez junior high was thought
to be but it wasn't him the lead fizzled it was just a coincidence which caused great disappointment to the coy family
the police and the people of Martinez who all hoped they might have found their man a second suspect came to light
after another child murder on February 21st 1987 almost a month after Iroquois murder six year-old Jeremy stoner
disappeared in Vallejo 15 minutes north of Martinez just over the water his nude
strangled body was found four days later the team of eight Vallejo police investigators worked around the clock on
the case one of the civilian volunteers who helped search for Jeremy was Sean Quincy Milton a 26 year old one time
security guard wannabe private investigator and a known police hanger-on who often told his neighbors
he worked for the police two days after Jeremy disappeared Sean Milton visited Jeremy's parents John and
Karen's don't know offering these services as a detective he attended the candlelight vigil for Jeremy as well as
his funeral Melton's former psychologist who had treated him a few years earlier
in relation to threats he made against these parents found four Laiho police a week after Jeremy's body was found
during Milton sessions he had told his psychologist that he fantasized about taking young boys to the Delta area and
leading them after harming them the Delta Area is where Jeremy's body was found 20 minutes after the phone call as
police were preparing to go inspector Melton he walked into the police station to offer information that he had
gathered on Jeremy's case he handed over a 15 page thought to report on the killing after providing his information
he left the station but police kept a close watch on him Nelson returned to the police station
that same afternoon to talk further about what he knew only this time he wasn't allowed to leave he was charged with a
Jeremy stoners kidnapping and murder Melton lived in a mobile home with his wife and his neighbors were surprised by
his arrest stating he had never bothered their children they said Melton was a quiet person who mostly kept to himself
after Milton's arrest Martinez police immediately sent two detectives to fillet hoe to investigate
whether Milton could have been responsible for Iroquois murder as well Martinez police couldn't ignore the
proximity in place time and age of the two victims during his police interrogation Melton described himself
as a violent paranoid schizophrenic obsessed with sexual perversions and death he showed signs of a mean second
personality changing his voice mannerisms and facial expressions he started calling himself orphan later his
wife confirmed that his second personality was named John Wolfe during the part of Milton's interrogation where
he spoke as John Wolfe he indicated to police that he was with the person who killed Jeremy stoner he referred to the
killer as the Terminator but that's all he would say about him Melton claimed he had nothing to do with
Jeremy's murder himself he was innocent Melton only had one prior arrest for writing a bad check four years earlier
after an extensive investigation there was no evidence to link Milton to eric quois murder no charges were laid by
Martinez police and to this day there is no evidence to suggest he was involved he was charged with Jeremy stoners
murder but both trials ended in a mistrial due to deadlock two juries a decision was made not to seek a third
trial meaning Sean Milton was allowed to go free several more suspects will look that fat
iroquois murder many were ruled out completely and some there just wasn't enough evidence to
proceed any further with one name that came up was Tommy Lynn sells Tommy Lynn sells was a serial killer that traveled
the United States killing anywhere between 22 and 40 men women and children between the years 1978 into 1999 he was
eventually caught and sentenced to death he was executed in a Texas prison in April 2014 the Texas Rangers reached out
to Martinez police and advised them that Tommy Lynn sells could be a potential suspect in Iroquois murder believing he
was possibly in California around that time he also resembled the composite sketch that had been released
detectives reached out to cells but we're never able to prove if he was or wasn't in Martinez in January 1987 and
it never went any further Contra Costa County DA cold-case investigator Paul holes spoke with us about some of the
persons of interest who have come up during the investigation so somebody like Tommy leave Lynn sells he gets
caught in Texas and they end up time lining him out and he starts dropping into various jurisdictions including
California and so what years are he in California and what kinds of cases what cases are out there that would kind of
fit what we knew he was doing and we've seen that with the Henry Lee Lucas and Ottis Toole who happened to come through
this County and at a certain point when they were talking once they were found and they had travelled all over the
nation well they come into this County and now we're starting to take a look at unsolved homicides because they just
happen to be in the county around you know traffic traveling through it so sometimes these notorious guys pop up in
these little local jurisdiction cases because of that situation and it's an absolute bona fide way to
it's it's bonafide to pursue that as an angle because you could have you know something like that you know them
committing a crime in your jurisdiction but a lot of times and since it's a non-starter you know they literally just
for somebody that maybe were traveling on the freeway got pulled over by CHP given a ticket and they're moving on and
did spend any time at all and weren't responsible for any of the unsolved the other part of this in the 1980s in this
area we had an unusual number and its regional not just contact cost of it kind of regionally we have an unusual
number of kids mostly girls that went missing you know so we have amber sports Garcia and Makayla Garrett Eileen
Mitchell HOF Tara kasi in 1979 Thank You Kim so you kind of look at the context of what's going on in this county and
here we have another kid that is that's being killed kind of a different type of
crime but it's also kind of within well what's the context of what's occurring in the front types it just kind of
happened to spike that we had a lot of problems against kids in the 1980s for whatever reason so that's the stuff
probably also something that influences maybe the original investigators thoughts that this must be a stranger
type of crime so they need to get somebody like a Timothy mid nerd you know who's a guy that's rolling around
in a blue van who's showing up anytime a girl goes missing and he's got little posters of missing kids and his van and
he's reaching out to the moms and missing girls and he's just somebody that's always there and he's always been
suspected with a variety of these cases and then pair he'll you know serve a search warrant on his house and he sued
them and actually won that lawsuit because they announced the media you know so he had sort of a defamation type
of situation but you know you have these types of individuals that are sort of notorious and are known to law
enforcement and when you have a certain type of crime of course you're naturally
going to start thinking well what offenders that we know of who are out there would would fit and so you do have
the shaun Hilton sir vintners that our local guys that you naturally just start eyeballing just to
see typically as you know if you have a fantasy motivated offender he's going to
spend more time with the victim than what we see in this case you know so if it were something like that that's where
I'm thinking the guy got scared off before he could do anything more but if that's the case I mean this was
literally this this little boy is is attacked and killed right away this was not something where the offender is
spending a lot of time with this victim before because then you probably see have another types of evidence
especially if it's sexually motivated you see you know disrobing of the vibe of the body and stuff like that so this
literally to my eyes and it's been a long time since I've looked at the crime scene photos to my eyes as that boy is
pushing his bike and somebody comes up and has immediately started to kill and that tends to gear the motivation less
this guy's fantasy is to kill and that was Gary ridgway's very first crime was he just wanted to see what it would be
like to push a knife inside a body and he goes up to a younger boy and stabs the kid you know you don't have the
typical fantasy stuff going on that you would naturally be able to interpret in a crime scene reconstruction so do you
have that going on or is this this is an individual who's trying to eliminate this little boy for whatever reason is
it because he's got angst against the boy or is it because he is trying to communicate through this violence to
somebody else within a month of the moto dacoit family's neighbors who they had an argument with moved out and moved
away from Martinez nothing further is known about them as the week's turned into months
Martinez began to go back to the way it was police stop circling the streets around Martinez junior high in the
footbridge lest tips came in and before long there was no one left the interview
or question the coif emly were quiet coming to terms with life without eric in it eventually Danny and Barbara
separated again and this time they didn't get back together by 1994 Danny coy was living in his car in a nearby
city he was battling drug and alcohol problems according to Jason cui Eric's brother Danny said he took care of it
meaning he took care of the person that murdered Eric Jason asked his father for
more details but Danny wouldn't elaborate Jason didn't know if his father had really found out who killed
Eric and a dish tower street justice or if he was just drunk and talking [ __ ] there is a report of Danny coy shooting
a gun towards a moving vehicle with two people inside around the same time he told Jason this story
Danny was convicted and served jail time for the shooting but he didn't hurt anybody the occupants inside the vehicle
said they had no idea who Danny coy was or why he shot at them it appeared to be
nothing more than a road rage incident it's unknown if this was the incident Danny was referring to in his
conversation with Jason perhaps he was talking about another incident entirely or maybe Danny was under the influence
and wasn't talking about anything that really happened following Danny's released from prison after the shooting
he took his own life Eric's case eventually went cold and wasn't looked at again until about ten
years later people from the initial investigation including members of the coy family were reinterviews but nothing
further came to light the FBI gave three possible suspect profiles one transient
drifter type mental health issues loner possibly a pedophile that was in martinez at the time of the murder and
Eric and him came in contact with each other by happenstance that morning wrong place wrong time murder after murder
drifter left Martinez and probably never returned to local loner twenty to thirty
year old male not married some type of mental health issue social issues possibly lives with mum or alone
possibly a pedophile that was from the area and committed the murder and is still in the area living a low-key
unassuming life three crazy wild biker type that lives on the edge involved in alcohol and drugs works odd jobs that
require little to no education boisterous and known in his inner circle to live in a Farias violent lifestyle
and might even have boasted about his illegal dealings to friends or family this person hadn't slept in several days
and was in a sort of drug-induced psychosis when the murder occurred possibly still lives in the surrounding
area possibly in prison or has possibly since died due to his lifestyle there are others who suspect the killer
doesn't fit any one of those profiles and maybe someone who was known to area called the coy family Detective Sergeant
Dave mother's has been hoping to solve Eric's case ever since he first picked up the file
around 2005 I assisted Lisa Maloney then a detective with conducting some investigative work on the anniversary of
Eric boy's death our work didn't generate any new leads at that time then in 2007 I was assigned to investigations
as a detective my supervisor John Silvia provided me a copy of the Eric coy case file I started
reading the assortment of documents and I began to attach posted flags next to items where I had questions quickly I
noticed I was running out of post-its I was overrun with questions unfortunately
I was not assigned to this as a cold case and my workload took priority over the air at Coit case my initial review
of the air at quake case file left me overwhelmed thinking there was no way to wrap my arms around the case I was
promoted out of Investigations and returned to Patrol as a sergeant a few years later I learned that Patrick's
Alameda a newly promoted detective at that time had taken an interest in the case but my involvement was limited
since I was now working in patrol around 2012 I returned to investigations as the
detective sergeant in my new role I had more oversight of the Iroquois case I was approached by one of our police
dispatchers autumn Turnage about this case autumn took a real interest in reading the files and listening to the
audio recordings automate significant efforts to fill in many of the blanks she's done an amazing job as a
researcher I've been very impressed with her knowledge of the case in January of
2014 the local newspaper the Martinez Gazette did an article about the 27th anniversary of Eric quois death we hope
to generate enough interest that someone would call in with a tip we received some calls but nothing significant
developed from those leads the case direction has not changed much in the last three years except for the Martinez
police personnel trying to bring it to closure a year ago I retired from the Martinez Police Department
autum Turnage moved on to another department and a newly promoted detective has taken up the case as a
part-time assignment progress is still slow there have not been any major changes or revelations with the case
Martinez PD continues to look at physical evidence hoping advances in evidence processing and DNA will improve
the chances of identifying Eric quois killer when I look back at this case I imagine it was overwhelming back in 1987
for a small Police Department with four detectives trying to manage all the moving parts of the worst crime for a
police department the worst crime for a community and most significantly the worst crime for a family the murder of a
child I think the adage of the first 48 hours certainly applies to this case of course
for me now 31 years later it's very easy to second-guess the detectives decisions
and their investigative strategies but I know they did their best with what they
had a department that wanted to solve Iroquois murder that wanted to bring someone to justice that wanted to
restore the community's sense of safety and that wanted to bring some form of closure to Erik boy's family
[Music] 31 years has passed Eric's family still have no answers but the detectives
determined to solve the case have not given up special thanks to Detective Sergeant Dave mother's without whom this
podcast would not have been possible thank you to detective miles Williamson autumn Turnage and Contra Costa County
DA cold-case investigator Paul hulls for sharing your wealth of knowledge Thank You Jon q and Sarah for sharing
your stories if you or someone you know has any information regarding the murder
of Eric coy please contact your local law enforcement office the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office the Martinez
Police Department or the FBI tip line contact information for all of those departments will be in the show notes
[Music] you

Case 74: Eric Coy

In 1987, nine-year-old Eric Coy was living with his parents and older brother in a central neighbourhood of Martinez, Northern California.

Most Saturdays Eric played with his cousin Eddrick, who was also his best friend. Eddrick only lived a five-minute bike ride away from Eric. They often hung out after school and on the weekends, tossing baseballs and footballs and climbing trees…

CREDITS

Narration – Anonymous Host Research and writing – Anna Priestland Production, scoring – Mike Migas Additional scoring – Andrew Joslyn

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RESOURCES

For all credits and sources please visit https://www.casefilepodcast.com/case-74-eric-coy

Brief Summary

The episode covers the unsolved murder of nine-year-old Eric Coy in 1987 and its impact on the Martinez community.

Key points

A Tragic Day in Martinez. On January 24th, 1987, nine-year-old Eric Coy was tragically murdered while riding his bike.
Casper's Comfort. The original Casper mattress combines multiple supportive memory foams for a quality sleep surface.
Investigation Developments. Police Chief confirms ongoing investigation with no suspects or motives identified.
Community Shock. Martinez faces its first child murder, shaking a previously safe community.
The Search for Eric's Killer. Detectives explore various suspects, including notorious serial killers, in the case of Eric Coy.
A Cold Case Remains Unsolved. Despite years of investigation, Eric's murder remains a mystery with no new leads.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Why would someone viciously attack a nine-year-old boy in broad daylight?

The shocking question posed about Eric's murder.

21:45WatchNov 20, 2018

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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