Peaceful stance at Salinas City Hall for cold case victims set for Tuesday

A call for justice set for Tuesday, as families who lost a loved one to gun violence will be at Salinas City Hall to demand their cases be solved beginning at 2:00 p.m. Family members say they’ve suffered enough as the murders of their loved ones have gone unsolved. They’ll be calling for more resources to be dedicated to solving not only their cold cases, but what they say are the hundreds — if not thousands — of unsolved crimes.

“From the year 2000 to the year 2015, there were 287 homicides in Salinas alone. I wonder how many of those homicides have been solved? Somebody knows who did this to my son and it has to be a heavy burden on your heart . Free yourself from this prison,” said Time for Healing and Grieving Founder Debbie Aguilar.

Debbie Aguilar lost a son in 2002. And it’s a similar story for Judith Lopez, whose son was murdered in 2011, and Debbie Sorto, whose grandson was the city’s first murder victim of 2015, a deadly year in which Salinas saw an an all-time high of 40 homicides. To this date, Aquilar, Lopez and Sorto’s cases all remain unsolved.

“After three months it was like no more contact from the detectives. I would call every month and they would just say we don’t have anything because we have so many homicidesw and so few detectives. But we need that closure even though it wont stop the pain,” said Debbie Sorto.

“We feel there are not enough resources as I know now I don’t have an investigator for my son. And with the communitys help we want to provide new leads,” said Judith Lopez.

In addition to taking a stance on Tuesday, they will also use public comment time at the Salinas City Council meeting to try and gain support for the cause. The public is invited to come out and support the cause.