Ventura Police Stymied by Silence in Unsolved Slaying of Youth : Crime: It’s been 2 1/2 years since Jesse Strobel was stabbed to death. Detectives say the killer and his accomplices have capitalized on a climate of fear.

The slaying is never far from police officers’ minds.

A photo of the victim, Jesse Strobel, hangs in the lobby of the Ventura Police Department. One detective keeps the file on his desk. The handsome high school football player, stabbed to death near his mother’s house, often surfaces in conversation.

It’s the case that got away.

Two and a half years after the Ventura High School student was slain, his killer hasn’t been arrested.

And it’s not because police don’t have a suspect. They do.

But they are hamstrung by the silence of a number of Ventura residents who could help put Strobel’s killer behind bars--something that has deeply disappointed many officers on the force.

“I believe there are people out there who know exactly what happened,” said Ventura police Sgt. Roger Nustad.

“But because they haven’t come forward, we have a killer on the loose, thumbing his nose at the justice system.

“I’ll never stop thinking about the case,” Nustad said. “It has affected me greatly, because I know we can solve it.”

Strobel was killed as he walked from his father’s Seaward Avenue pizza parlor to his mother’s home above Ventura High School about 10:30 p.m. Jan. 29, 1993.

It was a killing that stunned Ventura: Strobel was a good kid with a bright future. He wasn’t a gang member. He was just walking home when police believe three or four other teen-agers stabbed him through the heart on North Catalina Street.

He collapsed on a neighbor’s stoop and drowned in his own blood.

No witnesses, no physical evidence--but plenty of chatter at school the next day. Three or four names kept surfacing in discussions with police.

“The killer’s name was all over campus in one week,” Ventura Detective Bob Anderson said. “Young people usually brag.”

As the police got closer to the suspects--believed to be in their late teens at the time--mouths clammed up, stories changed. The killer and his accomplices capitalized on a climate of fear.

“None of the suspects came forward, nor did anyone who had spoken directly to them about the murder,” Ventura Detective Mike Tracy said.

And to the chagrin of investigators, it has been that way ever since.

Not only did several key students remain mum, police were disgusted to find that several of their parents had hired lawyers to keep detectives from questioning them.

“It’s pretty incredible,” Ventura Detective Gary McCaskill said. “We want to talk to these kids, but the parents--not the bad guys--have hired lawyers to keep us away. That’s a real disappointment.”

Some investigators see the impasse as a grim sign of the times.

“Twenty years ago, people would cooperate and tell the truth,” Anderson said. “But now they hide behind lawyers.”

Sociologists say the lack of cooperation sends a bad message to the community as a whole.

“The message is don’t get involved--that one’s obligation is to one’s self and not to the community,” said Mike Doyle, professor of sociology at Cal Lutheran University. “That’s a bad sign. On some level, people are going to have to say, ‘This isn’t right, we can’t continue like this.’ ”

A general deterioration of faith in the justice system is partly to blame, Doyle said.

“But a community’s institutions are only as strong as the community,” he said. “Police can only do so much. They rely heavily on the public.”

So does Jesse Strobel’s dad.

He, too, has to live with the knowledge that his son’s killer and his accomplices are on the streets enjoying themselves.

“Personally, I know who they are,” John Strobel said. “And it’s horrible. Imagine knowing who did the killing and not being able to do anything about it.”

He is particularly angry with parents who won’t let their children come forward.

“I hope they can sleep at night, but I don’t know how they can.”

The police say they are still hoping someone will come forward. Murder cases have no statute of limitations.

“I don’t know how to make someone do what is right,” said Lt. Brad Talbot. “But maybe with the passing of time, someone will pause, reflect and reconsider helping us.”

Sometimes slayings take awhile to solve. A man named Sammy Sanchez was killed two days before Strobel’s death, and his killer wasn’t arrested until just last month.

And so the police wait.

“We can never forget about Jesse,” Nustad said. “We can’t do it.”