LONG BEACH (CBSLA.com) — Police say they have new information in the 1975 killing of a Long Beach police officer who was investigating a suspicious vehicle near his home.

Officer Franke Neal Lewis, 28, was gunned down near his East Long Beach home as he apparently went to investigate something in a vehicle parked nearby that aroused his suspicion, Long Beach police officials said.

The department, which is offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Lewis’ shooter, will release new information and photos in the case at an afternoon news conference Tuesday.

LONG BEACH (CBSLA.com) — Detectives hope a $50,000 reward will help locate the killer of a Long Beach Police officer, 40 years after the crime was committed.

Officer Franke Lewis was gunned down in 1975 as he was trying to save the life of another man. That man was Denis Gitschier, who was nearly beaten to death as he slept inside his car.

“What do you say to someone who saved your life, and loses his” Gitschier asked. “There are no words that describe that.”

Lewis had just gotten home around 3 a.m. after his shift on December 13 when he witnessed the attack on Gitschier. He was shot and killed as he approached.

“I was unconscious, it’s as simple as that. There is nothing to remember,” Gitschier said. “I wouldn’t have survived if he didn’t come when he did.”

Gitschier, who long had the desire to thank the fallen officer’s family, tracked down the emails of Lewis’ two daughters. They met in person for the first time in 2010, and they stood together on Tuesday as Long Beach Police announced the $50,000 reward for information to help solve the murder.

Additionally, the department released images of two of the vehicles spotted in the area on that night, hoping to jog someone’s memory.

(credit: LBPD)

SOUTH LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Hoping to identify two suspects sought in connection with a cold case murder, detectives are releasing surveillance video of the getaway car believed to be used by the suspects.

The shooting took place March 12, when Cleveland Ross Sr. visited a South L.A. Auto Zone with his son, 27-year-old Cleveland Ross Jr.

Cleveland Ross Sr. was inside the store when he heard gunshots and rushed outside to see that his son had been gunned down by two men who fled the scene in a red car.

“I live it over and over every night,” the father said. “I can’t get that out of my mind.”

Investigators say the getaway car was a red Buick, possibly a Le Sabre model. The car’s license plates aren’t visible on the video, so police and the victim’s family hope that releasing the video publicly will help identify the suspects.

“Somebody is still out there and they know what happened to him,” the victim’s mother, Latrice Marsh, said.

The victim’s parents said Cleveland Ross Jr. was not involved with a gang and was a family-oriented man who loved sports.

Marsh lamented that he never had the chance to meet his daughter, who was born after he was killed.

“[He wanted] somebody to call him daddy, somebody to look up to him. But he didn’t get to see it,” she said.

PERRIS  (CBSLA.com) — This time of year is always tough for Kim Quinn, whose daughter was found dead 10 years ago on Thanksgiving night.

“You know my birthday is hard, too, because she always called on my birthday. Always,” Quinn told KCAL9’s Crystal Cruz.

Kayla Tolson, who was 22 years old at the time, was found shot in the chest in Perris in the Inland Empire.

Here is a picture of Kayla about two weeks before her body was discovered.

(Kayla Tolson)

“You go through sadness, anger… I was angry for awhile,” Quinn added.

Kayla was found in a rural part of Perris near a group home she was staying at, at the time.

According to her family, Kayla was taking the necessary steps to rid herself of her drug habits.

Kayla left behind a daughter, who is now a teenager.

“You learn to understand she’s probably in a better place, but she’s missing the time with her daughter. She’s missing all that and her daughter’s missing all that,” Kim Quinn added.

According to Kayla’s mother and her brother Kurt, the killer has not yet been caught.

The family has even hired a private investigator but got nowhere.

“You know I think the worst part is not knowing who did it,” Kayla’s brother Kurt Ritz said.

Ritz suspects someone knows more about his big sister’s death than they’ve shared with detectives, and he can only hope that the guilt gets to them.

“A lot of people were involved in her life at that time around the area, and I would just like them to come forward and help us out,” Ritz added.

Someone created this YouTube video three years ago, with details about the case, asking for the same thing as the family: a lead.

Still however, there are no answers yet for this Perris family.

PASADENA (CBSLA.com) —  Police in Pasadena have announced the arrest Monday of a suspect they originally thought committed a murder in 1988 but couldn’t prove.

The case had long gone cold.

On February 27, 1988, police responded to reports of a shooting in the area of Lake Ave. and Orange Grove Boulevard.

When officers arrived, they located a 39-year-old male, identified as Leroy Galloway, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Galloway was transported to a local hospital where he later died.

Witnesses observed a suspect fleeing the area and provided descriptions to police. Authorities investigated numerous leads, which led to the arrest of a suspected shooter, identified as Albert Ahmad Clark. Limited forensics at the time gave the state insufficient evidence to prosecute Clark for homicide and he was released without charges being filed in February 1989.

In 2013, Galloway’s family contacted the police requesting detectives review the case. An extensive examination of the file identified evidence that was now tested using more state-of-the-art forensics. Test results by the Los Angeles County Crime Lab again implicated Clark.

On December 7, Clark, now 53, was arrested by the United States Marshals Pacific Southwest Regional Fugitive Task Force as he left his LA residence. Clark was booked for homicide.

The case was presented to the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office Wednesday and they charged Clark with murder. He remains in custody at the Los Angeles County Jail with bail set at $2 million.

The investigation is on-going. Anyone with information regarding this case is asked to contact Pasadena Police Detective Dustin Gomez at (626) 744-7112.

ANAHEIM (CBSLA.com) —  Authorities have announced the arrest of a suspect for the 1998 murder of a 41-year-old Anaheim resident.

On or about April 18, 1998, Irene Ruelaz was suffocated and later found decomposing in her closet under a pile of clothes.

Her family suspected John Andrew Augustin, now 52, of the crime. The family said he has been involved in an abusive relationship with the woman at the time of her death.

Due to the fact her body was badly decomposed, the Orange County Coroner’s Office initially ruled the death to be accidental.

A year ago, the case was turned over to the Orange County Homicide Task Force (OCHTF) for further review.

The task for conducted additional witness interviews and additional forensic tests were done on evidence taken from the victim’s body.

The Orange County District Attorney’s Office reviewed the new findings and decided to have Augustin arrested.

This past Wednesday, a team of detectives with the Anaheim PD located Augustin and took him into custody.

He is currently being held at the Orange County Jail on $1 million bail.

If found guilty on the murder charge, Augustin faces 25 years to life in state prison.

The OCHTF is comprised of members from the police departments from Anaheim, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach and Santa Ana, as well as the OC Sheriff’s department and the OC District Attorney’s Office.

PASADENA (CBSLA.com) — A 53-year-old will face a judge Wednesday in the 1988 shooting death of a man in Pasadena.

Albert Ahmad Clark was charged Dec. 9 with murder for the shooting of 39-year-old Leroy Galloway on Feb. 27, 1988.

Galloway was shot multiple times near Lake Avenue and Orange Grove Boulevard and was taken to a hospital, where he died later.

Witnesses said they saw the gunman fleeing the area, and, based in part on the descriptions they provided, investigators eventually arrested Clark. But there was insufficient evidence to prosecute him because of the “limitations of forensics science at the time,” police said.

Galloway’s family had asked Pasadena police to review the case in 2013 and investigators were able to retrieve evidence that implicate Clark in the killing, officials said.

Clark was arrested Dec. 7 in Los Angeles and is being held on $2 million bail.

(©2015 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)

SANTA ANA (CBS/AP) — Orange County authorities say DNA samples collected from relatives last October at an “ID the Missing” event matches material from bones found in 1989.

The remains, which were found in San Bernardino County in 1989, were identified as Kristyne Olivia Trejo, who went missing 28 years ago.

It’s the first success for the new “ID the Missing” program, which aims to collect DNA samples from relatives of those with missing loved ones and compare them to DNA from unidentified remains.

Trejo’s family members will join law enforcement officials Tuesday afternoon to discuss the case and the new DNA program.

Some 34 families have provided 47 samples so far.

(TM and © Copyright 2016 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2016 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

SAN BERNARDINO (CBSLA.com)  —   The San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office has announced the arrest of a suspect in a murder that took place in 1976.

Larry James Allred, now 61, has been charged with the murder of then 19-year-old Cynthia May Hernandez.

The DA said that Hernandez left  her home on the evening of August 26, 1976 to catch a movie at the Fox Twin Theaters in Covina.

Hernandez, a recent graduate of Charter Oak High School, never came home.

The next morning, her family located her unoccupied vehicle in the theater parking lot. They immediately filed a missing person’s report with the Glendora Police Department.

Nearly 40 years after her disappearance, a suspect has been formally charged in connection with her murder.

“Thanks to great investigative work of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department and the Glendora Police Department, we were able to identify the suspect who murdered young Cynthia forty years ago,” said DA Mike Ramos.

This case will be assigned for prosecution to Deputy DA Denise Yoakum, assigned to the Cold Case Unit.

Allred is currently serving eight years at the California Institution for Men in Chino on unrelated charges, officials said.

Since this is an ongoing investigation, no further details will be released, the DA said.

Anyone with information regarding this investigation is urged to contact Detective Patty Ruiz or Sergeant Greg Myler at (909) 387-3589. Callers wishing to remain anonymous are urged to call the We-Tip Hotline at 1-800-78-CRIME (27463) or you may leave information on the We-Tip Hotline at http://www.wetip.com.

POMONA  (CBSLA.com)  —  Anger and disappointment fill the family of a murder victim.

Twenty-one days ago, the suspect in a 40-year-old cold case murder was arrested — but four days later he was let go.

CBS2’s Amy Johnson spoke to the victim’s nephew.More than anything, he wants justice for his uncle.

“I feel I’m facing an army and I’m by myself,” said Andrew Castro.

He  is fighting for justice in the murder of his uncle, Arthur Martinez, a man he only knows from photographs.

“When I got older I started asking about a picture that was the wall of a guy that didn’t know. So they finally started telling me who he was.,” Sastro said. “And they started telling me the story of what happened to him.”

Martinez was killed on Valentine’s Day 1973. He was just 19 years old.

The case had gone cold until Castro started calling Pomona police detectives 12 years ago – Castro himself just a young man of 18.

Castro found out his uncle went to work that day and left with a friend.

“There was witnesses that seen him leave with the suspect,” Castro said.

Two days later, Martinez was found shot and dumped into a wash.

“Art was an out-going person, he was someone you would like,” said Martinez friend Rickey Winberry.

He grew up with Martinez and remembers the last time he saw him, just days before he was killed.

“He told me that night he was in trouble and it was over a girl. But I didn’t go into it with him. I just know a few days later, he was dead,” said Winberry.

The family knows the suspect and after opening the case five times police finally made an arrest on July 7.

They released the suspect four days later.

“Angry, sad and mostly just very disappointed in the LA County District Attorney’s Office,” says Castro.

The District Attorney’s Office said there was insufficient evidence.

“The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office had a perfect case presented to them,” Castro said, “And they chose to not file charges right now. And they dropped the ball.”

Castro says he won’t drop this.

“Im not going anywhere,  I will fight this to the end,” he said. “I want to see justice,”

A $50,000 reward is offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction of Martinez’ killer.

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) – Just after midnight June 11, 2001, a man at a pay phone near 91st and Main Streets in South Los Angeles called the Bell Cab Co. for a ride.

The cab company sent Hak Choon Chun. Fifteen minutes later, the driver arrived and told dispatch he had picked up a customer. And that was the last communication the 61-year-old had with anyone.

Mark Hahn of the LAPD is the detective in the case. “What we saw were a pair of black shoes and just the victim’s legs sticking out from the drain,” Hahn recalled. “Somebody tried to hide him. The mystery of that has always stood out in my mind, and the way the victim was killed.”

Hahn and his partner, Bobby Bourbois, took CBS2/KCAL9’s Rachel Kim back to the scene, where they believed there may have been a dispute between Chun and whoever was in his cab.

Hahn said they did not have enough information to determine a motive. Whatever the motive was, it all ended with Chun being shot once.

The victim’s cab, a lime green Crown Victoria, was found along a residential street in Riverside later that day.

As Hahn tried to identify the killer, he began to home in on the call made by someone named Rick to the cab company.

As the detective listened to the call, he noticed something unusual about the caller’s conversation with the dispatcher.

Rick: “I’ll be outside because I’m having problems with that girl. Oh, man! It’s a long day.”

The caller vented and sounded troubled as he talked on a pay phone right in front of a business with apartments on top. Hahn believed the girl Rick was talking about lived up there.

Another critical piece of the puzzle was the fact that Rick told the taxi dispatcher that he was headed for La Puente.

Rick told the dispatcher that he wanted to go to Del Valle Avenue in La Puente.

But the address he gave did not exist. Hahn believed La Puente is important because Rick may have some sort of connection there.

“If this is a terrible accident, a result of a dispute, maybe a misunderstanding, we’re asking that either the lady who knows Rick or Rick himself come forward. We’re asking for the public’s help,” Hahn said.

Anyone who recognizes Rick’s voice or has any information about this case is urged to call detective Mark Hahn at (323) 786-5111.

SANTA ANA (CBSLA.com) — Detectives continue to investigate Orange County’s oldest “Jane Doe” cold-case murder.

Police on Thursday unveiled photographs of evidence — loafers, a colorful top, purple pants and a silver ring with a blue stone — that were found on the body of a never-identified woman found in a Huntington Beach field in 1968. The woman had her throat slit and had also been raped.

Police released a sketch of what they believe the woman looked like at the time of her killing. Police believe she was in her 20’s and either white or Latina.

Her clothes were made in New York, suggesting to some detectives that she had come to Orange County from the East Coast.

“There was a lot of hitchhiking,” Huntington Beach Police Chief Robert Handy said. “It was the free spirit era.”

Still, nobody ever came forward to report her missing, and she was never identified posthumously.

Detectives ran a suspect’s DNA that was found at the crime scene, but no matches were made in the national database.

The mysterious circumstances of the woman’s death comprise just one of 1,000 cold cases in Orange County, KCAL9’s Michele Gile reports.

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com/AP) — Authorities say familial DNA was used to solve the 1976 killing of the ex-wife of The Righteous Brothers singer Bill Medley.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell said Monday that investigators blame Kenneth Eugene Troyer for the slaying. Karen Klaas was strangled with her pantyhose in her home.

Investigators say they collected a DNA sample from the coroner and matched it to forensic evidence from the crime scene.

McDonnell says investigators ran a forensic sample collected at the crime scene through a state database and found a familial match to identify a close male relative of Troyer’s.

Police in California killed Troyer in 1982. Authorities say he was suspected of several other sexual assaults.

According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Klaas, 32, dropped off her 4-year-old child by her new husband at day care on Jan. 30, 1976, and went to her home in Hermosa Beach.

Neighbors became concerned when they could not contact her, and notified authorities.

Klaas was found dead inside her home. She had been strangled, beaten and raped.

A man was seen leaving her home around the time of her murder, but the killer was never found.

(TM and © Copyright 2017 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

COSTA MESA (CBSLA.com)   —  Police in Costa Mesa Thursday identified a suspect in the 1997 rape and murder of a 26-year-old woman whose strangled body was found by her boyfriend in their apartment.

Sunny Sudweeks was found dead Feb. 23, 1997, in the bed of her second-floor apartment in the 1000 block of Mission Street.

The investigation quickly went cold — and stayed that way for two decades.

Police today named a suspect in the case: 43-year-old Felipe Vlanney Hernandez Tellez, who is believed to be living in Mexico.

Orange County prosecutors said they planned to file charges and an arrest warrant today.

Sudweeks’ parents made a public appeal to Mexican authorities to help nab the suspect.

Police said they used familial DNA to link Tellez to the crime, meaning DNA taken from a relative helped identify him as a suspect.

Sudweeks, a photography student at Orange Coast College, lived with her boyfriend and another roommate, but both were at work the night she was killed.

Detectives reopened the case last April, and by November, “There was a big push to look at this case with a whole new approach,” Costa Mesa Police
Lt. Paul Beckman said.

For two weeks, every investigator in the department worked on the case, he added.

Fingerprints lifted from the crime scene provided a big break when they matched prints taken from the suspect following an arrest on domestic violence allegations in Santa Ana in 2000, Beckman said. With Tellez as a suspect investigators obtained DNA from a relative and then asked a laboratory to use a computer that would generate a composite sketch based on suspect DNA and other information, Beckman said.

DNA was collected at the crime scene, but investigators never got a match because the suspect’s genetic material was never entered into any
databases that were checked, Beckman said.

This case is a reminder of how law enforcement won’t give up an investigation, Beckman said.

“Nearly everyone who worked on it was here 20 years ago,” Beckman said. “It’s one of these cases you never forget.”

Tellez left the United States in 2006 for Mexico, Beckman said.

Investigators suspect he now lives in the state of Oaxaca with his wife and three children near the resort town of Puerto Escondido, police said.

He cooks and delivers chickens, Beckman said.

“For 20 years he has been enjoying life living with his family, raising his own children and yet he denied us our … daughter,” the victim’s father, Alan, said. “Our family has struggled for years with the pain and loss and grief. We want justices for our daughter.”

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) – Investigators in the 2009 shooting death of a prominent Los Angeles attorney are offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of his killer.

FILE — An undated photo of Jeffrey Tidus with his wife. (credit: CBS)

Jeffrey Tidus, a civil litigation attorney who specialized in business law, was shot in the head outside his home in Rolling Hills Estates on Dec. 7, 2009. He passed away the following day at UCLA Harbor Medical Center at the age of 53.

According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Tidus had just arrived home from a fundraiser. He went to his car to grab his work laptop when he was shot in his driveway in what deputies described as an “execution-style” shooting.

“He was obviously a true believer in justice,” his widow Sheryl Tidus told reporters at a news conference Wednesday morning at sheriff’s Homicide Bureau headquarters in Monterey Park. “We’re here today to ask for justice for this case.”

“My brother Jeff was brutally murdered, and we’re hoping that a $100,000 reward will assist the sheriff’s department in bringing the dirt bag who murdered my brother to justice,” his brother Michael Tidus said.

In 2013, Sheryl, who was home at the time of the murder, described to CBS2 what she heard that night.

“I heard a sound and a car drive away,” Sheryl said. “And I went out there to look for him and found him out on the driveway.”

In that 2013 interview, Sheryl added that detectives had informed her they had a person of interest in the case.

Investigators have not released any details on a possible motive.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. Meanwhile, his family has put up another $90,000.

Anyone with information on the case should call Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.

HARBOR CITY (CBSLA.com)  — The Los Angeles Police Department is going over surveillance video of a July 2016 shooting and hope it will lead them to the man who killed an aspiring rapper.

The suspect shot two people in the parking lot of a Pep Boys in Harbor City. The male victim recovered. The female victim — 31-year-old Jennifer Dickerson, was killed. Officials described her as an innocent bystander.

The suspect fired multiple shots toward a crowded barbecue restaurant set up at the south end of the parking lot.

Dickerson had been working at the restaurant for about a year. In fact, at the time of her death, her family told CBS 2 / KCAL 9 that Dickerson was working several jobs to make ends meet.

Family said the restaurant — Wheaton’s Eatin’ — was one of three jobs she held down .

RELATED LINK: Innocent Bystander Fatally Shot In Pep Boys Parking Lot In Harbor City

(credit: LAPD)

At the time of the murder, the LAPD released photos of the suspect and his vehicle (an SUV with a hood that is oxidized) in the hopes someone in the public could identify him.

Tonight, police released more detailed video — it also shows the suspect running away and leaving in the red vehicle.

Also tonight, the victim’s mother spoke to CBS 2’s Rachel Kim. Valarie Holyfield said she is still in immense pain.

“You don’t understand it. You don’t know why it had to happen, nothing,” she said, “It’s devastating.”

The fact her daughter wasn’t targeted makes it that much more painful.

“Just totally innocent. It’s just totally not fair,” Holyfield said.

Days before Mother’s Day, Holyfield is still seeking justice for her child.

“Che deserves justice,” she said, “a sweet girl just trying to make a living.”

What Holyfield wants — besides an arrest — is a chance to ask the killer why?

“I want him to see her pictures and say her name and regret every day of his life that he pulled the trigger that day,” Holyfield says.

She made a plea for anyone who knows the killer to come forward.

“It would help me breathe better,” she says, “it would help me out a lot. Just help me put this guy away. I would beg that person [to help], I’m begging.”

APPLE VALLEY (CBSLA.com) — Homicide detectives in San Bernardino have reopened a 2005 cold-case murder.

Tyrone Bradley, 20 at the time, was found dead, shot multiple times on Feb. 1, 2005.

He was shot to death in the parking lot of an apartment complex in the 20200 block of Serrano Road in Apple Valley.

Detectives investigated and followed up on several promising leads but said the trail went cold.

Officials said “new information” has allowed them to reopen the case. New leads are being pursued, according to authorities.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Detective Adam Salsberry at (909) 387-3589.

Callers wishing to remain anonymous are urged to call the We-tip Hotline at 1-800-78-CRIME (27463) or you may leave information on the We-Tip Hotline.

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A 61-year-old man has been charged in the cold case murder of the brother of Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced Thursday.

Michael Anthony Locklin faces one count of murder with a special circumstance allegation that the murder was committed during a robbery in the slaying of 37-year-old Michael Thomas, Ridley-Thomas’ brother.

Thomas, an insurance adjuster, was killed between Aug. 13-16, 1981, and his body was found at his home in the 4600 block of Santa Barbara Boulevard – now Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard – after he did not show up for church or work.

Locklin, whom prosecutors identified through DNA evidence, faces the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted as charged. He is being held without bail and is scheduled to make his first court appearance on Aug. 21.

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com)  —  Authorities said that a 53-year-old suspect in a 1987 cold case murder has been convicted.

The Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said the killing occurred as the result of a botched carjacking.

It took about two days before jurors found Pierre Romain guilty of first-degree murder.

A special allegation that he used a gun during the crime was also found to be true.

Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 15 when Romain faces up to 27 years to life in state prison.

Deputy D.A.  Tannaz Mokayef of the Major Crimes Division prosecuted the case.

The D.A. said on June 29, 1987, victim Jade Maurice Clark, then 21,  was in a vehicle parked outside a club on Highland Boulevard. Clark was with a friend when he was approached by Romain and another man. Romain pointed a gun at Clark who had his own weapon.

Evidence presented at trial showed that Clark shot the defendant in the arm. Romain also opened fired, killing Clark.

DNA recovered from the bullet tied Romain to the murder.