$6,388.81 Reward for Night Stalker Remains Unclaimed : Justice: Alejandro Espinoza was ‘a big break’ in helping to convict Richard Ramirez. But officials can’t find him to give him his reward.

Alejandro Espinoza: Los Angeles County has a $6,388.81 check for you for your help in convicting Night Stalker Richard Ramirez.

But authorities don’t know where to find you.

“Nobody seems to know his whereabouts,” said Larry Monteilh, executive officer to the county Board of Supervisors.

Monteilh said Espinoza filed a claim for a share of the $36,777 reward but failed to include his address. Shares of the reward pot were given out to others this week in proportion to how important their information was to investigators, authorities said.

Espinoza will receive the second-largest chunk of the reward because he assisted police in recovering property taken from the homes of some of the Night Stalker’s murder victims. Ramirez was convicted Sept. 20 of 13 murders and faces death in the gas chamber.

Prosecutor Phil Halpin said Espinoza provided the link between the stolen items and Ramirez.

“My recollection was that this was one of the people who led us to the person to whom Ramirez was selling stolen property,” Halpin said. “That was a big break in the case.”

Halpin said that Espinoza was “an acquaintance” of Ramirez, but officials do not believe that he was involved in the case. Authorities also do not believe that Espinoza was dealing in stolen property, he added.

“It seems to me that he had driven (Ramirez) to the location on one or two occasions where the property was sold,” Halpin said. Espinoza “did not know where the property came from. All he knew is that there was a fellow who fit the description that had been published (in the media) that he knew, and this fellow also was apparently selling property that could well have come from the locations where the crimes had been committed.”

Monteilh said law enforcement authorities have been asked to help locate the missing man.

Sheriff’s Homicide Sgt. Frank Salerno, who worked on the Night Stalker case, said Espinoza’s last known address was in downtown Los Angeles. He described him as a street-wise person who has “contact with people on the street.”

“We’re told that he has a wife and a small child,” Salerno said. Several sheriff’s investigators met Espinoza, face-to-face, when he came forward with the information. So they would be able to verify his identity, authorities said.

“We’ll continue to hold his money in trust until he shows up,” Monteilh said.

Sheriff’s Department homicide investigators may be contacted at 974-4341.