City Still Anguishes Over Death of Football Player : Ventura: While the killer of Jesse Strobel, 17, remains at large, officials struggle to make schools and streets safer.

The anguished questions started just days after 17-year-old Ventura High football player Jesse Owen Martin Strobel was stabbed to death as he walked home on Jan. 29, 1993.

Why are children being killed in our streets? anxious residents asked police and city leaders. What can be done to make our schools safer? parents demanded at a town hall meeting attended by 700 people.

The most poignant questions came from members of Strobel’s own family: Who killed our son and why? And will his death be in vain?

A year later, many of those questions remain unanswered. Nabbing Jesse’s killer--who is still at large--has become more difficult than officials first anticipated. With each passing day, the trail leading to the killer grows colder, police admit.

Attempts to make Ventura’s two high schools safer have been met with mixed reactions. Tighter dress codes have been accepted, but residents are still battling over the closure of a major road near Ventura High.

And the city’s ability to stem the growing gang problem that police say contributed to Jesse’s death is making little headway. Meanwhile, members of Strobel’s family have struggled to cope with their loss in their own way.

Jesse’s father, John Strobel IV, canceled his newspaper subscription and stopped watching television for a year. His mother, Claudia Strobel, became distrustful of strangers and for many months, could not bring herself to say the word murder .

She is still trying to navigate the delicate line between moving on with her life and remembering her first-born son, she said.

“It’s kind of like he’s in every breath I take,” she said. “I’ll never be over it. My heart will always be broken.”

The crime touched Ventura residents in a way that other homicides in the city had not. Jesse was a good boy from a good family, citizens said repeatedly at a dozen forums convened after his death.

He performed well academically, practiced the saxophone and played defensive end on the varsity football team. He didn’t belong to a gang.

His attack came as he walked home from his father’s pizzeria, where he worked part time after school delivering pies and washing dishes.

Jesse’s slaying struck at the very core of Ventura’s middle-class sensibilities. If this could happen to Jesse, residents gasped, it could happen to my son or daughter.

Authorities believe more than one assailant jumped Jesse Strobel on North Catalina Street shortly before midnight last Jan. 29. He was found lying on the porch of a house and was taken by ambulance to Ventura County Medical Center, where he died at 1:15 a.m.

Three weeks before the stabbing, Jesse was allegedly threatened by Ventura High gang members who had beaten his best friend.

In an unprecedented display of concern about gang violence, nearly 700 Ventura residents packed a town hall meeting called Feb. 10 by city officials to discuss what can be done to prevent further bloodshed.

Jesse’s father and grandfather also created a grass-roots citizens group, called SOS Jesse, to raise awareness about the rise of gangs and gang-related violence.

And school administrators responded by passing several measures designed to tighten security at the city’s two high school campuses. The school board adopted a new dress code that banned hats and other headgear favored by gangs, and restricted lunch time passes to go off campus.

The board also closed a section of Poli Street that runs directly behind the school to reduce the chance of drive-by shootings. Educators had talked for more than two decades about closing the major thoroughfare, but it took Jesse’s death to make it become reality, said school board member Velma Lomax.

The security measures have had a beneficial effect on parents, teachers and students, she said.

“It has heightened awareness of violence on campus and in our neighborhoods,” Lomax said. “But I don’t think we should let our guard down yet.”

Besides those changes, there is little visible evidence to show that anything has changed in the city to protect children from further violence.

“The challenge always is how do you maintain that kind of momentum,” said Ventura Mayor Tom Buford.

Buford said the city has an array of programs designed to reach out to troubled youths. Volunteer groups labor to offer children a place to play and activities to keep them busy after school and have been in place in Ventura for many years, he said.

And the Police Department has officers trained specifically to find out about possible gang fights and other planned violence before it happens.

But, said Buford, “there is no one particular program or organization that is going to solve the problem of gang violence by itself. The work is ongoing and it is not always visible.”

For the family and for police, the most frustrating aspect of Jesse’s death is the fact that no one has been arrested. Detectives have interviewed hundreds of people and believe that Jesse was the intended target of the attack. They also believe there were several witnesses to the slaying.

But no one has stepped forward to give evidence needed to make an arrest, Lt. Brad Talbot said.

“The puzzle is not complete until you get all the pieces,” Talbot said. “And until we get those pieces, we don’t have a case that we can submit to the district attorney’s office.”

Talbot, who heads the detective division, said police have investigated several new leads over the past six months. But all have come to dead ends, he said. Detectives continue to investigate any new tips as they come in, Talbot said.

But the possibility of an arrest becomes less likely each day, he said.

“As time drags on, it makes it more difficult to gather the evidence we need,” he said. “People’s memory fades.”

John Strobel said he is satisfied with the police effort.

“I would love to have them find someone and convict them,” he said. “But I know this isn’t Hollywood--every story doesn’t have a tidy ending. They are working on it and I have a high regard for what they have done.”

Strobel said he dropped out of SOS Jesse after a few months because dredging up the circumstances of Jesse’s death time and time again became too painful. The group has been inactive for several months, he said.

“Every time I went to a meeting and started talking about it, it just hurt too much,” Strobel said. “It brings on feelings that aren’t going to go away.”

Strobel said he has thrown himself into his business, selling pizza at a small shop in the Pierpont area. Still, he said, Jesse creeps into his consciousness several times a day. It has been particularly difficult in the days leading up to the first-year anniversary of his son’s death.

“I was robbed,” Strobel said, his voice breaking. “I’m never going to hold his children. I’ve never going to have the joy of watching him graduate from Ventura High. I miss him a lot. I miss him tremendously.”

Claudia Strobel said the past year has been a nightmare for her emotionally. She has become more guarded of her family and doesn’t trust strangers. She eventually sought counseling from therapists at St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard in an effort to get control of her grief.

“When it feels utterly unbearable, I breathe and ask Jesus to help and he does,” she said in a letter to The Times. “It’s been an awesome spiritual warfare.”

The sorrow of losing her son has been so intense it’s “incomprehensible,” she said.

“No one should know such grief, but I do. . . . Grief will be my companion for the rest of my life,” she said.

A Mother’s Letter

On Jan. 29th last year I lost my son, Jesse. I still find it hard to believe.

Unless it’s happened to you, you don’t know how painful it is to lose your own precious child to such a senseless, violent death. The fact that it was intentional is insane to me. No one in his right mind, knowing Jesse, would have murdered him.

Jesse didn’t have a mean bone in his body. He had the character of a “true blue” friend. He had integrity and was responsible beyond his age. He had his whole life ahead of him.

Nothing has meant more to me than my children. My children are not neglected. I handpicked every one of their teachers until they got into middle school. I made Jesse be accountable, and he was. He was not associated with any gangs, as has been printed by some media, nor was he abusing drugs or alcohol.

He was on his way home--doing what he was supposed to be doing. He was attacked and brutally murdered. We have no idea why. He stood 6’4” and there were no signs of resistance on his body. I can’t imagine the shock and terror of what happened to him that night.

I don’t understand how so many people seem to know who killed him but refuse to talk.

Our lives will never, ever be the same. The grief is so intense, it’s incomprehensible. No one should know such grief. But I do. And I know others do, too. Grief will be my companion for the rest of my life.

I’ve been asked what I think about the closure of Poli Street. I think it’s a good thing. City traffic does not belong driving through a high school campus. The closing of the hillside streets, though, is wrong. It puts those who may need an ambulance, fire truck or police car at a greater risk when blockades are up and time is of the essence.

And, personally, I resent being forced to drive where I saw my son’s bloody handprints in the street where he collapsed and crawled to the nearest house for help, before he died alone on someone’s doorstep.

Honestly, at times, I don’t know what’s kept me from going insane. When it feels utterly unbearable, I breathe and ask Jesus to help me and He does. It’s been an awesome spiritual warfare. Every day is truly a miracle to be alive.

I am deeply grateful to all those who have prayed for us and continue to do so. I am grateful to those who gave their time, money, food and flowers. I am grateful for those who cared enough to reach out to us, even through it felt awkward to them to say, “I care” and “I loved Jesse, too.” I am grateful that St. John’s Medical Center offers bereavement counseling free of charge.

God promised He would not leave me comfortless. In my darkest hour, He sent me a guardian angel and the simple fact that I am still alive is testimony to His word.

God bless you all.

Claudia Strobel

Ventura