Reward Increased in Slayings of 5 Workers

It was six years ago this month that a tip led police to a clearing in a remote San Fernando Valley canyon. There, they found the bloodied bodies of five slain catering truck workers.

The crime is still unsolved, prompting the Los Angeles City Council to double the reward--to $50,000--it had offered for information leading to a conviction or convictions in the case.

Members of the catering truck’s crew were last seen in public at one of their usual stops at Lankershim Boulevard and Vanowen Street in North Hollywood, police said.

The truck was found the next day abandoned near Lankershim Boulevard and Strathern Street. The following day the bodies of the truck owner, Ismael Cervantes, 43, and his 13-year-old son, Ismael Jr., were discovered in the 8300 block of La Tuna Canyon Road. Also there were the bodies of two brothers, Humberto, 16, and Jesus Sandoval, 19, and Francisco Gasca, 30.

Some of the victims were shot and others were stabbed, said Det. Mike Mejia of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Robbery-Homicide Division.

“I hope that raising the award money will help, that it will give us something good to work with,” Mejia said. “We’re still seeking the assistance of the public in this case.”

About six months after the slayings, police arrested three men. They were later released because of lack of evidence, but remain suspects, Mejia said.

Mejia said anyone with information about the slayings is asked to call homicide investigators at (213) 485-2129.