No Release for Victims

Elizabeth Lontoc was on her way to the cemetery to visit her daughter’s grave when she heard the report on the radio: Another homicide suspect had been mistakenly set free from the Los Angeles County Jail.

The news was chilling because a little over a year ago, her 18-year-old daughter was killed on the Golden State Freeway by an alleged drunken driver. The suspect has escaped prosecution because a paperwork error led to his release from jail and he subsequently disappeared.

“It just gave me goose bumps,” said Lontoc, of Sunland. “I kept thinking over and over about what happened in this situation with my daughter.”

During the past 15 months, five homicide suspects have been released in error, leaving the victims’ families to cope not only with their grief but also with the overwhelming feeling that the system has let them down.

Rhonda Davis says she has been afraid to leave her house since learning last week that the Sheriff’s Department let go the man accused of killing her husband.

And Seroj Mikailian, whose sister was slain in Glendale last year, wonders if his family will ever see justice. One of the suspects accused of killing Benita Mikailian was released after a clerk at the jail mistook her name for that of another inmate.

“Murderers are just walking out,” Mikailian said.

“[Sheriff] Sherman Block says, ‘Oh, this is going to be the last time, don’t worry about it.’ It’s just talk.”

The accidental releases have been caused by a variety of gaffes, ranging from miscommunication among law enforcement agencies to paperwork errors at the jail.

Sheriff’s officials say they are hoping to prevent future mistaken releases by upgrading their computer system. As of Tuesday, four of the five homicide suspects remained at large, despite continuing efforts to recapture them.

“Right now we have a team . . . around the clock and leaving no stone unturned,” said Sgt. Ron Spear, a spokesman for the Sheriff’s Department.

“Every detail of how this [latest] release occurred is being looked at in order to determine if there is a way to prevent it from happening again.”

In the case of Lontoc’s daughter, Leticia “Letty” Cabrera, officials believe that the suspect, who was living in Pacoima, has fled to Mexico. Unless he is captured and stands trial on manslaughter charges, Lontoc said, there will be no closure for her family.

“It’s just unfinished business for us,” said Howard Lontoc, Cabrera’s stepfather. “There’s an open chapter here, and we would like to put it to rest.”

The accident that killed Cabrera occurred in July 1995. Police said the suspect, Angel Moya, was speeding north on the Golden State Freeway near Colorado Boulevard, when he rear-ended one vehicle, losing control of his car. He then crossed three lanes of traffic, sideswiping Cabrera’s 1971 Volkswagen van and running her off the road.

The van smashed into a fence, and Cabrera was ejected through the windshield. At the time of his arrest, a preliminary test showed that Moya’s blood-alcohol level was more than twice the state legal limit.

Nevertheless, officials at the Men’s Central Jail released Moya--who also uses the name Juan Carlos Solis--because authorities failed to file charges against him within the 48-hour period prescribed by law.

The mistake set off a frenzy of finger-pointing among the CHP, the district attorney’s office and the Sheriff’s Department, all of which said other agencies had dropped the ball.

The infighting further infuriated the Lontocs.

“Instead of blaming each other, they should all work together and cooperate with each other,” Howard Lontoc said. “Where’s the justice? The system has let many people down, not just us.”

Seroj Mikailian, coping with the slaying of his sister, knows all to well what it means to be frustrated with the judicial system. “Nothing will surprise me anymore,” he said.

In July 1995, one of the suspects accused of killing his sister was accidentally released from the Sybil Brand Institute after a sheriff’s clerk confused her name with that of another inmate.

The absence of Anait Zakarian, the suspect, went unnoticed for three days, giving her enough time to take a brief vacation in Las Vegas before vanishing.

Zakarian’s brother, Garen, was acquitted last year of capital murder charges in connection with the slaying of Benita Mikailian, a rival Glendale travel agent.

Although he was convicted earlier this year of weapons charges in federal court in connection with the case, the jury deadlocked on robbery counts. He is now being retried on charges of robbery, physical violence in the course of robbery, and using a gun and silencer during a holdup.

Prosecutors allege that the brother and sister, broke and desperate, decided to kill Mikailian, whom they owed $42,000 for airline tickets. Defense attorneys, however, said the pair was set up.

Both sides say their case was hampered by the disappearance of Anait Zakarian, whom they said they needed to help flush out some of the details.

“I believe she will be brought to justice sooner or later,” Mikailian said. “I have to have hope.”

Since two more homicide suspects--Juan Espino and Pedro Quezada--were released in July and August, the Sheriff’s Department has given assurances that they were remedying the flaws in their inmate tracking system.

But after Gregory Stinson, 31, was let go last Thursday because of a clerk’s mistake, officials said they have come to realize that until the department has an upgraded computerized tracking system in place, additional errors will probably occur. Officials hope to have the first part of the system operational by next year.

Rhonda Davis, 38, said she has been unable to rest since Stinson was set free.

“I don’t know what he’s capable of,” she said.

Stinson was arrested in 1993 in the shooting death of Davis’ husband, Julius Matthews, 38. Davis said she had known Stinson and believes he killed her husband out of jealousy.

Davis said she learned of Stinson’s release from her mother, who saw a news report about it Friday morning. That night, she said, police raided her South Los Angeles apartment looking for Stinson.

“I haven’t been able to eat, sleep or nothing,” she said. “I don’t go outside because I don’t know where this man is at. . . . How could they make a mistake like this?”