Though authorities arrested a suspect in the fatal shooting of a woman and her 4-year-old daughter in Long Beach, the Board of Supervisors Wednesday renewed the $20,000 reward offered in the case in an effort to get potential witnesses to come forward.
The action was among four rewards -- involving unrelated cases -- that the board renewed Wednesday. Supervisor Don Knabe recommended extending the reward, set to expire Nov. 13, related to the fatal shootings of Carina Mancera, 26, and her daughter, Jennabel Anaya, on Aug 6. Brandon Ivan Colbert Jr., 22, of Tulsa, is awaiting arraignment Dec. 20 on two murder counts stemming from the shooting near Ninth Street and Locust Avenue.
Police have not determined a motive. The murder charges includes the special circumstance allegations of murder while lying in wait and multiple murders. Colbert is also charged with the attempted murder of the child's father, Luis Anaya, who escaped injury.
Prosecutors have yet to decide whether to seek the death penalty against Colbert, who allegedly hid behind a sign and without provocation opened fire on the family with a shotgun. Police said DNA evidence linked Colbert to the crime. He had been in custody since Aug. 27, when he was arrested by Los Angeles police on suspicion of driving a stolen vehicle and a DNA swab was obtained from him, according to Long Beach police.
Investigators believe Colbert took a bus from Tulsa to Los Angeles on Aug. 3-4, and they asked anyone who spoke to him on the bus or afterward to call Long Beach police Detective Terri Hubert or Sgts. Robert Woods or Lloyd Cox at (562) 570-7244. In other board actions, Supervisors Hilda Solis and Michael Antonovich recommended extending the $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a second driver in the Feb. 27 crash that killed Brian Lewandowski, Michelle Littlefield and Scott Treadway.
The reward, part of a total of $35,000 offered in the case, was set to expire Nov. 25 and will now be available for at least another 90 days. Dealio Lockhart, 36, of Whittier, faces three counts of murder stemming from the crash that occurred just after midnight on the Santa Ana (5) Freeway when he lost control of his Dodge Challenger while allegedly racing the driver of a Dodge Charger near the Citadel Outlets in Commerce.
Prosecutors allege the drivers of the two muscle cars had been racing for 11 miles and Lockhart was speeding at 127 mph just before he swerved around another vehicle traveling at normal freeway speed and lost control of his car.
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The Challenger hit a UPS 18-wheeler, which went airborne and over the center median, shearing off the top of an oncoming Nissan with four people inside, before landing on top of a Ford Explorer and bursting into flames, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The crash killed Treadway, a 52-year-old UPS driver from Mira Loma, who had been driving trucks for the delivery service for 30 years; and Littlefield, 19, and Lewandowski, 18, both of Valencia, who were in the Nissan. Lewandowski, the son of a sheriff's homicide detective, and Littlefield - - who were both students at College of the Canyons and worked at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia -- were returning from a trip to Disneyland when they were killed.
Two other people in the Nissan were critically injured. Investigators, who are still trying to identify the driver of the Dodge Charger, asked anyone with information about the crash to call the Sheriff's Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500 or the CHP's East Los Angeles Office, (323) 980-4600.
Solis also recommended extending a $10,000 reward -- part of $35,000 on offer -- for information on a suspect in a string of sexual assault attempts and home invasion crimes in the Echo Park, Westlake, Silver Lake, Hollywood and downtown Los Angeles areas. That reward was set to expire Nov. 13 and will now be available for at least another 90 days. The suspect, who has been known to carry a kitchen knife, has entered apartment buildings and trespassed into homes.
He's attempted sexual assaults on two women, who screamed and fought him off, according to police. The suspect is described as a light-skinned black man in his 20s or 30s, with black hair and brown eyes. He was seen on surveillance video wearing an olive green shirt with an Virgin Mary image, blue jeans and a pair of blue and white Adidas shoes. He is connected to eight incidents, seven of which took place on Aug. 1- 2.
The most recent sighting took place in Hollywood, when the suspect was seen peeping into a home in the 1900 block Highland Avenue through a window. He was wearing a black shirt, khaki pants and red and white Nike high- top sneakers, police said. Police have warned that the man is very likely to strike again. Finally, Solis recommended extending a $10,000 reward for information about an armed robbery about 4:20 p.m. Aug. 3 at Mayra's 99 Cent Discount store in the 100 block of South Mednick Avenue. The reward was set to expire Nov. 3.
She said the shopping center where the discount store is located had been the target of a number of thefts, assaults and attempted robberies, not all of which appear to be related.
The robber can be seen on surveillance video lifting his shirt to show a gun in his waistband and demanding money. He made off with $20 and was last seen on foot heading west toward Gleason Street, according to the Sheriff's Department.
He was described as 20-25 years old with facial acne. He wore a black hoodie over a black cap, beige knee-length shorts and black shoes and socks. Anyone with more information was urged to call the sheriff's East Los Angeles station at (323) 264-4151. Anonymous tips on any of the cases may be called in to Crime Stoppers, (800) 222-TIPS (8477).
