Stockton Homicide Detectives Juggle Heavy Caseload While Searching For Killers
STOCKTON (CBS13) — Murder, robbery, rape.
One of the most dangerous cities in America is right in our own backyard. But instead of the looking at criminals, CBS13 is taking a closer look at a small group of investigators who fight to catch killers and keep crime down.
So far this year, there are 47 murders in Stockton, compared to 32 the year before and 71 a year before that. That means Stockton homicide detectives are forced to judge several cases at a time.
Det. Brian Fry says Jesus Mendoza's murder will stay with him forever.
"In the blink of an eye his life is over," he said. "This was just a man who was just driving home from work and a stray bullet went through his windshield and struck him in the head."
The youth pastor, new husband and new father was an unintended target for the bullet that took his life.
It would take months before detectives arrested Mendoza's suspected killers. But many more are still waiting for the same closure.
Susan Trinchera is one of those people.
"It's been two years, two months, and three days," she said.
Her mother's killer, she says, spent hours torturing the 84-year-old who suffered dementia.
"I'm sure she was crying for us to come and waiting for someone to come and help her and no one came," she said.
Susan not only discovered her mother's body, she arrived before the killer left.
"I knew that she was just dead and I just wanted to go to her and hold her and you know just tell her I'm so sorry that someone wasn't there for you," she said, "but about that time I heard a noise in the back of the house."
Hazel Dingman's murderer slipped out of the home, and is likely still on the loose.
Every day, her family holds onto the hope there will be an arrest. And so do Stockton police detectives like Fry.
He's one of 15 homicide detectives. That means in a city with one of the highest violent crime rates per capita in the nation, the murder cases pile up.
"One weekend we had nine homicides," he said. "How do you serve the community when you have nine homicides with a small group of detectives?"
The detectives say turning to social media is helping them solve cases like Pastor Mendoza's, and earning Stockton's trust where the majority of murders are gang-related.
"For a lack of better terms, the general rule is snitches live in ditches," he said. "They're in fear of their safety or their family's safety and I can't blame them for that."
In Mendoza's murder, Fry says there was hardly any evidence at first.
"No one really saw anything, no one knew the victim," he said.
But across the street, city cameras captured a group of people walking, giving the detective the break he needed.
As for the unsolved cases like Hazel's, Fry says they are never forgotten, no matter how much time passes.
"We all have cases on our desk that is like what else can do," he said.
More than two years after her mother's murder, Susan believes in the detectives who continue to work on the case.
"They are people they have families they don't want these people out on the street...they live in this community," she said.
She is confident one day they'll all know who killed Hazel Dingman and why.
"I think someone knows I think there is someone out there and they're keeping that secret," she said.
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