Clues Still Sought in 1991 Slayings of 5

Five years after the bodies of a catering truck crew were found stabbed and shot to death on a Sun Valley roadside, authorities have vowed to renew a $25,000 reward for anyone who provides information that leads to an arrest and conviction.

“We have nothing to go on,” said Det. Mike Mejia of the Los Angeles Police Department Robbery-Homicide Division.

The bodies of Ismael Cervantes, 43, his 13-year-old son, Ismael Jr., brothers Humberto, 16, and Jesus Sandoval, 19, and Francisco Gasca, 30, were found Dec. 8, 1991, in the 8300 block of La Tuna Canyon Road.

The “Tlaquepaque” catering truck’s crew was seen two days earlier at one of their usual spots at Lankershim Boulevard and Vanowen Street in North Hollywood, according to authorities.

The truck was found the following day abandoned near Lankershim Boulevard and Strathern Street, Mejia said. One day later, the bodies were discovered at the side of a road at a different location.

“Some of them were stabbed and some of them had been shot,” Mejia said.

Investigators did not know how the bodies got there and had not determined a motive, Mejia said, adding that family members reported the truck had been robbed of about $200 by gunmen a month before.

After the slaying, the Los Angeles City Council offered the reward, but such rewards expire after a few days, Mejia said.

He said the reward is likely to be reactivated if someone comes forward with information now.

Cervantes had emigrated from Mexico 20 years earlier and worked as a restaurant cook for 10 years before buying the catering truck, according to family members.

Mejia said anyone with information can call homicide investigators at (213) 485- 2129, or a crime hotline at (800) 78-CRIME.