Family, Friends of Hit-and-Run Victim Ask for Public’s Help in Finding Killer

The lives of Phil and Irene Trujillo were shattered when a hit-and-run driver killed their only child in August.

After the driver ran down Phillip Trujillo, 17, on the Artesia Freeway in Buena Park, the couple moved to Albuquerque with relatives to try to relieve some of the hurt, friends say.

Now those friends whom the Trujillo family left behind want the public to help in locating the killer.

“We want to find him. We want him to see what he has done to this family,” said Fred Huber, who is leading an effort to keep the issue before the public.

Huber is the father of Joseph Huber, a boyhood friend and high school classmate of Phillip Trujillo.

Justice Demanded

Trujillo, Joseph Huber and three other teen-age friends were returning from Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park when the incident occurred early in the morning on Aug. 12.

“At first the kids were sad. Now, they are angry. They want this person found and brought to justice,” Fred Huber said.

The group is offering a $5,000 reward to anyone who provides information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person who killed Trujillo as he checked his car for a possible flat tire, Fred Huber said.

Fred Huber, a resident of Paramount and the owner of a small wholesale produce company, is offering $2,000 of his own money while $3,000 is being provided by Albert Gomer, the owner of Gary’s Steel Co. of Long Beach, where Trujillo’s father worked.

“Someone had to have seen that car. We are hoping they come forward with some information,” said Dorothy Huber, Fred Huber’s wife.

Car Make Identified

Trujillo was hit by the driver of a light Ford Taurus, said Keith M. Thornhill, California Highway Patrol public affairs officer.

Trujillo had pulled to the right shoulder of the freeway west of the Holder Street overpass near the Los Angeles County border, Thornhill said.

The teen-agers were standing in front of the Trujillo car, with emergency signals flashing.

For unknown reasons, Thornhill said, the driver of the Taurus collided with the stopped car. Trujillo was knocked to the ground with a broken right leg, a fractured neck and head and internal injuries, Thornhill said.

He was pronounced dead at La Palma Intercommunity Hospital a couple of hours after the 1:05 a.m. incident. Joseph Huber received minor injuries.

The Ford Taurus is believed to have had a shattered windshield, a damaged front fender and a broken head light.

The California Highway Patrol sent out nearly 1,000 letters to automobile repair shops in Los Angeles and Orange counties, hoping to get some information on the car, Thornhill said.

“We received about 20 responses, but they were all dead-ends,” Thornhill said.

However, the friends of the victim hope someone will eventually come forward with some information on the killer.

‘A Good Person’

“We want this person prosecuted. We want to stop him from doing this to someone else,” Fred Huber said.

All of Trujillo’s friends believe the driver of the car was drunk, even though the CHP has no proof.

“The driver had to be drunk--how else could he have done this?” said David Montecino, 16, one of the teen-agers with the group returning from the amusement park.

At a gathering recently at the Huber home, some of Trujillo’s friends talked about why they feel so strongly about tracking down the driver.

“Phil was such a good person. He never hurt anybody. He was always helping,” said Sandie Jacobs, a teacher and substance abuse coordinator at Paramount High School.

Trujillo was her teaching assistant and helped her counsel students with drugs and drinking problems, Jacobs said.

“He had no enemies,” said Colleen Loan Buttner, who was also with the group at the time of the incident. Buttner and Jacobs could not hold back the tears as they talked of Trujillo.

Jacobs said she hopes to start some type of memorial scholarship in honor of Trujillo.

Trujillo, an honor student, graduated from the school in June. He had planned to attend Long Beach City College, then transfer to Cal State Long Beach, where he hoped to become a teacher, Fred Huber said.