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Three years after her youngest son was found dead in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Rachel Valtierra still has nightmares. She wonders how her son, Angel Anthony Valtierra, a 20-year-old with an impish smile, died. She wishes she could read his autopsy report. At least then, she says, she would stop imagining what may have happened. Investigators have never released how Angel was killed, all they have told her is that he was a homicide victim.
Read Jennifer Squires’ two-part story in the Sentinel Sunday and Monday.
15 responses so far ↓
Deborah // Mar 25, 2007 at 11:30 am
I just read the story about the tragic story of a murdered young man and the grief his family is still feeling, my heart goes out to them. I live in
MH and happen to see this article. I subsribe to the mercury news and am wondering why it is only in the sentinel? according to the story he was murdered in SJ, shouldn’t it be in the mercury too?
hats off to the report who is keeping this story alive, it was nicely written.
Leslie // Mar 25, 2007 at 4:58 pm
So sad to hear the family grief on the audio, my heart goes out too them!
Why is this article not in the San Jose Mercury News to help the family?
marty mechanic // Mar 25, 2007 at 5:50 pm
Yeah, I just read about Angel Valtierra’s unsolved homicide and remember other unsolved homicides involving Latino males in our town of Santa Cruz.
I just wish for all the loved ones of these young men, that there was a clever Sherlock Holmes type of “old School” detective, who made it his or her passion to track and find the perpetrators in each of these “cold” cases. We have all been raised up on Colombo and Jack Webb type TV detective drama’s and of course “Murder She Wrote” where each of the homicides is neatly solved in the one hour time slot. We who trust in God punishing the wrong doers in some future “Court” also know that the Cosmic Balance is “wobbling” until the murdered soul is Avenged on some unseen “Higher Plane” hopefully in the near future…..
Probably the men who committed the homicide are dogged by their own recurring dreams of their evil ways and realize that the Cosmic wobble they started by slaying young Angel will haunt their own lives and relationships until that day when, like in the movie “Ghost”, the Hell hounds come to claim them?
Where are you when we need you Angela Lansbury?
ROSIE // Mar 26, 2007 at 6:12 am
JUST READ THE STROY AND THOUGHT IS WAS VERY WELL WRITTEN . I HOPE THE WHO EVER DID THIS TO ANGEL STANDS UP AND TELL SOMEONE AND LIKE THE OTHER MEN SAID IT WILL HAUNT YOU FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. HOPE YA”LL CAN LIVE WITH YOURSELFS
Cara Ragan // Mar 26, 2007 at 6:54 am
I agree with the last person. I live in the Gilroy and read the San Jose Mercury all the time. How come this article is not in there? This is a local crime and concerns me because I have children one who is grown now, this is the kind of stuff we need to know about so why isn’t it being told in the S.J. Mercury
Miss Lisa // Mar 26, 2007 at 8:14 am
My heart hurts for the Valtierra family. I pray that this family gets closure and justice is served! I am also blown back that this is not posted in the San Jose Mercury. This type of story should be posted in the city in which the crime took place and all surrounding areas so that more eyes can read this and the one lead that is needed can come in! Stories like this will also help other mothers protect their childern, so why are we not broadcasting it in ALL surrounding areas??? May God Bless the Valtierra family.
Martinez // Mar 26, 2007 at 8:17 am
SAN JOSE MERCURY HAS NOT PICKED UP THIS STORY KNOWING THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE IS BEYOND ME!! This case will be cracked one day and I hope SJ Mercury News dont try to claim credit then! This story is more touching than most of the stories the SJ Mercury News has posted in todays paper! This frustrates me to know this young mans life is not of importance to the SJ Mercury News.
M. Mendoza // Mar 26, 2007 at 10:34 am
Reading this story shows how frail life can be and how the loss of a family member can traumatize a family long after the loved one is put to rest.
I hope the family finds the justice they want, but pray they find the closure they need.
Mad Victim // Mar 26, 2007 at 8:52 pm
“When a detective has a few minutes…” WHEN? As a fellow crime-traumatized consumer of the services of the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office, I was told there are so few detectives on duty that some property cases are not investigated at all. I reported this information to my county supervisor, who asked the Sheriff, who did not deny this, as I recall. That email message is, of course, a matter of public record.
Scramer // Mar 31, 2007 at 6:44 am
I hope and pray this family gets closure soon so they can start healing.Media is a very powerful tool for people to know what’s going on in the community and all over the world. The SJ Mercury should be running this story, as a family in the San Jose community you would think they would have been shown more respect.
angela jaurigue // Apr 16, 2007 at 11:25 pm
angel and i were best friends sinc e junior high this kills me to know thathe’s gone…not knowing what happened and people not coming forward about this make me angry .. cause we were all so tight … im from mclaughlin and i know we all partied off af fair ave and people know what happened and if they can just give some info it would help the family…somting isn’t right and i strongly feel it was someone angel knew …. cause ever one on the est side is all on silent effect after this happened no one wants to talk about it ….. and we all kicked it so somethings definetly wrong people are hiding something but god will prevail in this and justice will be served
Rachel Valtierra // Apr 20, 2007 at 6:15 am
I want to thank everyone for taking the time to response to my son’s story. I am hoping you can help our family by get this story out in the San Jose area. If you can help by emailing the story to others. Hopefully it will touch the right people and we will find Justice for my Angel.
Lidia Covarrubias // May 10, 2007 at 8:24 am
My heart goes out to The Valtierra family. My heart aches for you. I actually worked for your family’s orthodontist. We treated your family for so long that you all in some way actually became a part of our family. I am devastaded. I now have a little boy of my own and I can only imagine the pain of your loss. I pray for you and your family and I ask God to bring justice to Angel and to your family.
My regards
Denise // Jul 28, 2008 at 1:25 am
Angel was my friend and as his birthday just passed 2 days ago I find myself even more determined to find out who did this horrible thing to such a sweet person. I just want people actually law officials to remember this is still an importance to many people that this crime is solved. i feel from the get go not enough was done we all know he was last at Jerry’s house we all know who goes over there how come they can not get one of those people to talk they need to try harder. I will always think of Angel everyday of my life my youngest son has his name sake I named him Xavier Antonio Angel after one of my dearest friends and I want for his family and friends to have the closure they all deserve .
Gabriela // Jan 9, 2010 at 8:51 pm
I remember Angel in junior high. He was in most of my classes, and I still remember his face and innocent smile. He made me laugh and was very approachable. When I first heard about his murder I was shocked, sad, and angry. Years later I still think about him. I looked for his case and saw that his killers have not been found. This makes me wonder what has gone wrong here? My heart goes out to his family. Dear Valtierra family, Angel has made a wonderful impression to the people that surrounded him during his years on this earth. People still think about him. I along with many other people, hopes and wishes that one day soon justice is served!!
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