|
|
Detectives Armstrong and Murphy learned that several young men regularly congregate
in the parking lot of the Oxford Chalet apartments,
across the street from the Fines' apartment complex. To determine whether the
men
were present on the evening of July 3, 2003 and might have information pertinent
to the investigation of the murder of Andrew Fine, the detectives visited the
parking lot on the evening of Thursday, July 31, 2003 and spoke with the men.
The following interview descriptions, provided in summary and not verbatim,
are some of the most typical or relevant to the investigation.
- Jose Lopez, 591 Hathorn
Mr. Lopez said he did not observe anything unusual on the evening of July
3. He said he and other friends had congregated in the parking lot of their
apartment complex, as they often did after work in the evenings. They get
together to converse in their native language, Spanish, tinker with their
cars and just hang out with their friends, he said.
Mr. Lopez said he was awakened by a loud noise in the early morning of July
4. He said he went to his window and observed a dog rummaging in a trash
can that had overturned and assumed that was what had awakened him. At that
time, he said observed a dark SUV parked in parking lot of Oxford Ridge across
the street. He said he recalled the time -- 1:50 a.m. -- because he looked
at his alarm clock. He said remembered seeing it because he has seen the
same car parked in about the same location before. The reason he noticed
in the first place, he said, was because there was always someone in it and
he'd never seen the car unoccupied. On this particular occasion, he said
he observed a single occupant, hunched down behind the steering wheel, with
a baseball cap pulled down low. Mr. Lopez said he thought the person was
a police officer watching someone or something across the street because
he had been there so often. When asked, he could not give a description nor
determine the sex or age of the occupant. He said the vehicle appeared to
be a dark blue or black SUV, but he did not know the make or year.
Mr. Lopez
said he saw no other cars going into or out of the parking lot and no
other persons enter or leave the apartments at that time.
- Raoul Jimenez , 310 Sisk
Mr. Jimenez was spending the night before the 4th of July holiday with his
brother, Tito Jimenez, who lives at the Oxford Chalet apartments.
Mr. Jimenez said they had been at a friend's house celebrating and returned
home about 1:40 a.m. on July 4th. He said they were walking across the parking
lot to enter Tito's apartment building when they saw a black SUV pull into
the Oxford Ridge parking lot across the street and a man exit the passenger
side. He said it attracted their attention because the passenger tripped and
fell as he got out of the car, and yelled and swore at the driver. Mr. Jimenez
thought the man appeared to be drunk. He said he saw the driver open his door
as though to get out, but he got back in when the passenger yelled something
about not being a woman, not needing any help, and leave him the hell alone.
Mr. Jimenez admitted his English might be somewhat limited, but he definitely
understood the man's words. He added that the passenger continued to yell and
gesture all the way into the apartment. Mr. Jimenez said he clearly heard the
words "wimp," "fag" and "dud."
Mr. Jimenez said he and his brother then entered his brother's apartment and retired for the night. He said they did not hear or see anything else that night.
- Tito Jimenez, 585 Hathorn
Tito Jimenez confirmed the account his brother, Raoul, gave and added that he had seen the same or a similar SUV parked in the lot across the street and occasionally in the lot of his apartment many times, usually in the evenings. He said he had figured it to be owned by someone who lived in the Oxford Ridge apartment complex. He commented that the driver must leave for work very early because the vehicle was never there in the morning when he left for work at 6:30 a.m.
- Jesus Ramirez, 581 Hathorn
Mr. Ramirez said he woke up at about 1:45 a.m. on July 4th, when his month-old baby woke to be fed. He said he got up for a glass of water and glanced out of his kitchen window but saw nothing suspicious. When asked if he had seen a dark SUV parked in his lot or the lot across the street, he commented that he saw it often, but he and his friends avoided it because they thought it to be a policeman watching someone in the apartments across the street. The vehicle parked in nearly the same spot almost every time, and there was always someone in it. Mr. Ramirez said he would be unable to identify the occupant of the SUV because he always hunched down in the seat or wore a baseball cap low over his eyes.
|
