Some 200 families gathered for a candlelight vigil in San Bernardino Tuesday night to honor their slain loved ones, reading the names of the violent crime victims one by one.
Roberto Elizarraraz’s 19-year-old son, Roberto Jr., was shot and killed in February. The teenager’s killer was eventually arrested, but for Joanne Ballard, her mother’s murder is still unsolved.
It’s been two years, four months and one day since Wanda Paulin, 86, was murdered in a brutal home invasion robbery.
Paulin was one of three senior women killed in similar home invasions in San Bernardino during the past seven years. Within the past two weeks, police have arrested alleged attackers in connection with the two other cases.
“A few months ago, I had no hope it would be solved,” Ballard said. “But since these other two cases, there have been arrested made, I am much more hopeful.”
Ballard hopes her letter writing campaign to Gov. Jerry Brown will increase the reward money in her mother’s murder from $10,000 to $50,000.
Nearly 400 letters have been sent from community members. However, there has been no response so far from the governor or his office.
