Clues Sought in Tijuana Slaying of Ex-INS Inspector

The death of a 24-year-old former U.S. immigration inspector, who was found shot in the head beside a road south of Tijuana, has left police scrambling for leads.

The body of Jeffrey William Anderson of El Cajon was discovered about midnight Saturday near the off-ramp of the San Antonio del Mar Bridge, which connects Tijuana to Rosarito, said Armando Avila, chief of the Judicial Police’s Rosarito division. Robbery was dismissed as a motive because Anderson’s wallet, containing credit cards and $322, his watch, a gold chain and what appeared to be a graduation ring, were not removed, Avila said. He was shot in the left temple with a 9-millimeter pistol.

Anderson had quit his job as a part-time Immigration and Naturalization Service inspector Nov. 1 because he wanted to spend time with his 31-year-old wife, Norma, who has cancer, said his father, William Anderson, from his home in Tiskilwa, Ill. The couple had been married a year.

“He was just a normal small-town boy, a good boy,” William Anderson said.

Police know no motives for the killing. Because there were no bruises on the body, Anderson may have been driven to the off-ramp and shot there, Avila said. The weekend rain washed away any footprints that might have helped in piecing together the crime, he said.

Since the shooting, rumors have circulated that Anderson was working as a private investigator and that his job had somehow led to his death. However, Avila said, “That’s just a rumor.”

Norma Anderson told police that her husband left home Saturday night, telling her that he was going out with friends. He was dressed in a red T-shirt, blue jeans and white sneakers, and he left without his car, Avila said.

Anderson had originally come to San Diego with the notion of becoming a city police officer. After a three-month INS internship that ended in July, 1988, he became a part-time inspector, working about 20 hours a week, said Rudy Marillo, an INS spokesman. Anderson was assigned to the San Ysidro and Otay Mesa border crossings, Marillo said.

“Everybody who knew him liked him,” he said.

Anderson hoped to eventually get a job with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, his father said. He said his son was an outdoors enthusiast who liked hunting and fishing.

“And he loved San Diego,” William Anderson said.