The Trail of Tears : Tragedy: Grieving father travels 2,000 miles on horseback to draw attention to his son’s death.

Ranch hand and bull rider Johnny Martin always wanted to ride on horseback down the Pacific Crest Trail with his son. He finally began his trip on Memorial Day alone, carrying his 23-year-old son’s ashes on the more than 2,000-mile journey.

Martin, from the town of Springville near Visalia, began his journey in Vancouver, British Columbia, and ended it this week on the steps of Los Angeles City Hall to demand that the Sheriff’s Department reopen the investigation into how his son died.

“Here I was with two horses in Downtown L.A.,” Martin said Wednesday, in his white cowboy hat, blue jeans, lace-up boots and gold-rimmed glasses. “They didn’t arrest me. They acted like I wasn’t even there.”

Martin says his son, Tim, died Oct. 3, 1993, in a traffic accident after he was beaten by several men who broke his arm and ribs in the parking lot of a Santa Clarita rodeo ground. Martin’s daughter, Tina, who held her brother in her arms when he died, witnessed the incident and said her brother lost control of his truck and crashed while trying to escape.

Authorities have ruled that the death was accidental.

“Circumstances determined by the California Highway Patrol and the coroner’s office didn’t dictate that a homicide investigation be done,” Deputy Benita Hinojos of the Sheriff’s Department said.

Now, Martin, 43, says his only hope of getting the case reviewed is if he can get enough publicity to attract witnesses who saw what happened.

The coroner’s office says the case can be reopened only if the family can come up with new information. So far, they do not have any reports about the alleged fight before the traffic accident, said Scott Carrier, spokesman for the coroner’s office. The coroner’s report showed a 0.09% blood-alcohol content, slightly over the legal driving limit of 0.08%, Carrier said.

Like his father, Tim Martin was a bull rider. The two often worked together on various ranches.

“We grew up in a very farm-like family,” says Tina Martin, 22. “Dad came (to Newhall) for work and was staying with Timmy a couple of months before (the accident).”

Martin plans to scatter his son’s ashes at a bull-riding school in Santa Maria, where he learned to ride.

“Timmy told his brother and sister, ‘I want to be cremated and spread where I rode the best,’ ” the elder Martin said.

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Martin said his long journey gave him the peace of mind he was seeking.

“I figured if it was good for Jesus and the religious people to go to the mountains and clear their heads, I thought I should too, instead of doing something bad and be a vigilante.”

For four months, all Martin had for company were his horses, the cowboy poetry he often read and a small dog who started following him in Dufur, Ore. Martin survived a number of forest fires, the Lake Tahoe earthquake, lots of rainy days and sometimes no drinking water.

When he read his own poetry, Martin said he “drove every squirrel, bear, cougar mad with my mistakes!”

Logging 10 to 30 miles daily, Martin knew nothing but what was happening on the trail.

“ ‘Did you hear O.J. (Simpson) killed his wife?’ ” Martin said one backpacker asked him in Oregon about the allegations against the former football star. “I said, ‘Really? What else happened?’ You don’t know if you’re at war or nothing!”

After a rest in Canyon Country with his older son, Martin headed Thursday to Scottsdale, Ariz., for the International Cowboy and Indian Congress. The congress helped make his trip possible with a $3,000 donation.

Martin also helped raise money for charity organizations such as Cowboys Against Cancer, American Indian College Fund and the Special Olympics. Martin says he doesn’t know how much money he brought in yet, but people pledged about $20 for every mile he rode.

“I never expected to outlive my son,” Martin said. “I just hope anyone with news on this would please come forward so we can bring this to justice.”