Slain Woman Mourned at Vigil : Tragedy: Friends and family of martial-arts instructor Vernoica Estrada gather on first anniversary of her still-unsolved death.

It has been a dark year for those who knew Veronica Estrada.

About 20 of her friends and family gathered for an hourlong vigil Thursday night at the unlit roadside where the 29-year-old martial-arts expert was slain a year ago. They stood around a handmade cross illuminated by candles and flashlights, pondering her still-unsolved death.

“I wish we didn’t have to be here,” Estrada’s sister, Theresa, exclaimed suddenly, bursting into tears after the group joined hands and recited the Lord’s Prayer.

Some rushed to comfort her. Others cried among themselves or wandered off to stare into the bushes where Veronica’s body was found the morning after the Dec. 15, 1993, killing.

For Cindy Jalving, one of her cousins, the vigil marked the first time she had visited the slaying site on the side of Soledad Canyon Road, one of the city’s main thoroughfares.

“The thing I’m wondering as I’m looking at all this traffic is why nobody stopped to help her,” she said.

Jalving made the inscribed, three-foot wooden cross that family members planted along the roadside, filling the hole with concrete when they were finished.

“I figure someone might try to pull it out,” Jalving said. “We want to make it difficult for them. This is a reminder to people.”

Veronica Estrada, a nationally ranked tae kwon do competitor who taught the martial art to children, was strangled while walking home from the Canyon Country studio where she worked.

A co-worker, Stuart Edward Milburn, 27, was arrested in March on suspicion of killing her, but two trials have ended in hung juries. Prosecutors say they will seek a third trial, but Milburn could be set free at a Dec. 27 hearing if a judge decides that no jury is likely to reach a unanimous verdict.

Estrada’s death sparked a crusade to install street lights along Soledad Canyon Road by friends and relatives, who claimed her death might have been avoided if the area had been lighted. The Santa Clarita City Council approved the lights along a two-mile stretch in the spring, but the only light during the vigil came from flashlights and candles.

“The street lights are conspicuous in their absence,” said Deborah Luck, a friend of Estrada’s who launched the petition.

The city must get 60% of the property owners along the road, mostly absentee commercial landlords, to agree to the installation of lights, which would be paid for by all the property owners in the area, said City Engineer Tony Nisich. He added that one more signature should secure the funding--and believes he has a willing participant--and the lights can be erected within a couple of months.

Vigil participants said putting Estrada’s death behind them is difficult, especially with ongoing events such as the trial and the effort to get street lighting.

Misfortunes surrounding the tragedy continue: Theresa Estrada said a burglar broke into her garage Thursday morning and stole several boxes, including one filled with Christmas ornaments made by her sister.

“It happened . . . while we were at the cemetery,” she said.