Two Decades Later, Mother Hopes Daughter's Killer Finally Found

Nearly 22 years ago, Enedina Jara was out of state visiting family when she got a call from police.

Just after 4 a.m. on Oct. 2, 1993, a fire ripped through the Rialto apartment she shared with her teenage daughter, Delores.

"She was my little girl," Enedina said. "She just had this glow about her."

In the scorched apartment, firefighters found Delores’ charred remains in the middle of the living room. The 17-year-old had wanted to stay behind to visit with friends while her mom was out of town.

She had been brutally bludgeoned before the blaze began, and died of smoke inhalation when she was unable to escape the burning apartment.

"I just want things to – I just want to know why," Enedina says now.

“‘We were going to ask you to come down to identify her ... but because she was burned badly... it's probably best to remember her the way she was,’” Enedina remembers officials telling her.

Detectives quickly determined Delores had been murdered.

“(She) also died of smoke inhalation which means she was still alive when she was set on fire,” says Sgt. Paul Stella of the Rialto Police Department.

But detectives got another shock.

“Right away, I said ‘well, where is my grandson?’” Enedina remembers.

Nine-month-old Emilio was missing, and detectives began searching for the kidnapped little boy, even asking the FBI for help.

A week later, a tip led investigators to an acquaintance of Delores, who told police she was asked to babysit the little boy.

Police arrested her, but there wasn’t enough evidence to charge her.

“Nobody should die like that, in such a violent violent way,” Stella says.

He is part of a newly formed cold case unit with the Rialto Police Department. After more than two decades, detectives are dusting off the files.

“You're able to see things that maybe the detectives in the past missed or didn't feel were important,” Stella says.

He believes current DNA technology could help old evidence lead to new clues.

He says he believes Dolores’ case is solvable.

“It definitely triggers emotions where you want to get out and solve the case,” says Cpl. Detective Rory Scalf.

Scalf said the detectives think of the family’s need for closure while working on cases like this one.

“Sometimes you get angry, frustrated, because I put myself in the victim's shoes, family’s shoes and wanting closure,” he said.

Scalf says their biggest challenge is also their biggest asset.

“The time. You're looking at 21 years,” he said.

He said that time can jog memories or change circumstances and prompt people to come forward.

“I think multiple someones know something,” Stella says. “That has to be a heavy burden for them on their mind, for them to hold onto that.”

Detectives believe that someone who couldn’t - or didn’t - speak all those years ago, could now lead them to Delores’ killer.

“I hope they've been haunted for the past 22 years -- but yeah, this takes a cold person,” Stella says.

Enedina now lives in Colorado. She is surrounded by reminders - pictures of her daughter and grandson (who tragically died in an accident about a year after his mother was killed), a singed pillow from Delores’ bed, and tucked away in a worn baby book, a piece of her daughter’s hair.

“I know it's hers,” Enedina says. “When I got it, I just kept feeling it.”

Enedina says she has forgiven whomever killed Delores, but she still needs answers.

“So my daughter can rest in peace.”

Anyone with information should call the Rialto Police Cold Case Homicide Unit at 909-820-2632 or 909-421-4990.