All these dead people — The SCV Talk Archive

As long as I’ve written this blog, I’ve waited for closure on unsolved murder cases in town. The list just keeps getting longer and longer and longer and I’m posting it below not only to share with you but to keep it updated for myself and to remember the victims:

Eddie Politelli, 72, killed with a machete or ax like object outside a pizza restaurant in Stevenson Ranch on a May morning in 2006. A silver Dodge Magnum was seen leaving the scene
LaWana Clary, 51, a Valencia high teacher, bludgeoned to death in Castaic in 2007
Anthony Lombardi, 40-something, a Valencia man shot to death in broad daylight in the driveway of his home last year. His body discovered by two teen boys. Cops initially thought he had been stabbed to death.
Unknown victim shot to death in Val Verde in September 2007
Bradley Kolfschoten, an LAPD cop decorated for bravery who, by some accounts, was found bloody and beaten in a car on 16th Street in Newhall in 2006. We never even learned whether Kolfschoten was murdered or was simply found dead
The Latino man shot to death in a bizarre car-to-car robbery on Lyons Avenue in broad daylight outside the WaMu bank in 2008
Gevorg Gasparyan, a 25 year old Armenian who lived in Val Verde, shot to death there in 2007. Later it was learned Gasparyan had trouble with the law, having been indicted by the feds in a nationwide identity theft ring
And now two John Does- one found by the bike path at Magic Mountain Parkway, and another 35 year old man who was apparently died of his wounds after being stabbed in the wash near Soledad Canyon Road

So in the nearly four years I’ve written this blog, the only big murder mystery resolved was that of Ann Racz. Her husband John was convicted of killing her in 2007. That case made nationwide headlines; the ones above occasionally get touched on in local media.

I know this subject is macabre and not pleasant but it’s important to remember these victims and to press for a resolution to these outstanding cases. This week, the alleged murderer of 20 year old Canyon high grad Josh Pipho, Michael Dean Stephens, is attending a pre-trial conference almost two years after Pipho was stabbed and run over at a Stevenson Ranch party.

The wheels of justice grinds slowly in Los Angeles County. For the people above, my hope is the wheels of justice will someday turn at all.

Comments (3)

KLBOctober 27, 2009 at 10:36 am
The murder on Lyons at Apple happened in broad daylight at a red light. It was witnessed by a handful of people stopped at that red light. Yet the only description I ever heard released by the Sheriff’s department was that a dark SUV was involved. Seriously! That is the most descriptive information the Sheriff’s department can release? As far as LaWana, I think they’re mostly focusing on the husband.
Valencia JoeOctober 27, 2009 at 11:52 am
Let’s not forget about the gardener whose first name is Ray and lives in Canyon Country (he was my gardener, but regretfully forgot his last name), who was found dead in the bed of a pick-up. His wife was convicted the second time, but there were doubts whether she did it alone.
ReaderMamaOctober 28, 2009 at 2:07 pm
What about Bryan Miranda? Shot in a “drive by” in Newhall almost 2 years ago. His parents are suing the Sheriff’s Dept. for delaying his transport to the hospital.