A Mother’s Mission

Bobbi Gorena is a mother in search of justice.

Her son, Troy, 16, was killed March 5, 1996--stabbed on a neighborhood street corner. Two men were arrested, but they later were released when an informant recanted her testimony linking them to the slaying.

Since then, Bobbi Gorena has returned dozens of times to the neighborhood where Troy was killed, handing out fliers, knocking on doors and looking for another witness who could help convict her son’s killers.

Authorities have refused to discuss the case publicly but privately say the informant, who belonged to the same gang as the suspects, changed her testimony because she was threatened.

“We wouldn’t have brought the case to the D.A. if we didn’t think we had the right suspects,” said Fullerton Police Chief Patrick E. McKinley after the murder charges were dismissed.

Orange County Deputy Dist. Atty. Robin Park, who prosecuted the case, would say only that she believes police arrested the right suspects, Kevin Carlson, 23, and Joseph Luis Garay, 21, in Gorena’s killing. They were identified by police as members of an Anaheim street gang. The two men have denied being involved in Troy’s slaying.

Carlson and Garay were arrested in September 1996 when a member of their gang informed on them. The informant, a 20-year-old woman who has the gang’s initials tattooed on the back of her neck, told authorities six months after the arrests that her story had been a lie.

In an interview after charges were dropped against the two men, the woman said she fabricated her testimony because she thought she was going to get a $100,000 reward.

A Fullerton police official said she changed her story after receiving a dead rat at her apartment.

After the charges were dropped on March 19, 1997, authorities told Gorena they had done all they could in what they once considered an open-and-shut case. But Gorena will not let the matter rest. She is pushing for justice.

“It’s like at the beginning, when the police had no leads or suspects for six months,” said Gorena. “But it’s more frustrating now because the detectives said they arrested the killers but can’t prosecute them.”

Now, 20 months after her son’s death, Gorena still spends three or four days a week walking through the neighborhood where Troy died, looking for someone who will help her catch the killers. She hopes that a $4,000 reward scraped together from contributions will give a reluctant witness the incentive to step forward.

“It’s hard pouring out your story when you go to 200 homes,” Gorena said. “I’ve had doors slammed in my face. People have cursed at me and thrown me off their property. There are times when I feel what I’m doing is all for nothing.”

Fullerton police have told her that Troy’s killers will eventually be brought to justice, Gorena said. But she cannot sit at home, waiting for detectives to get a break in the case, she added.

“To them, it’s just another murder. But we’re talking about my son; my youngest child who I only had for 16 short years,” she said. “I’m either going to put his killers in prison or I’m going to die trying.”

Until recently, Gorena, 49, never thought that her relentless pursuit of justice could get her killed. But she said that she received a death threat over the telephone earlier this month.

“A word to the wise,” said the anonymous caller. “Back off or you’re going to end up like Troy.”

Gorena’s response was, “I’m not going anywhere.”

She believes the threat resulted from her effort to keep Troy’s death from being forgotten or listed as just another crime statistic. Since the slaying, Gorena has turned to several places for help, but has received little assistance.

She was on a national television talk show where she pleaded to anyone with information to contact police. In addition, she wrote to Fred Goldman and Bill Cosby, two men whose sons were also murdered, for help. Neither man answered her letters.

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When the state offered a reward for information about Ennis Cosby’s murder, Gorena asked Gov. Pete Wilson’s office to offer a reward in her son’s case. The request was turned down.

Wilson spokesman Ron Low acknowledged that Gorena has been in contact with the governor’s Riverside office, but he said that the reward in Cosby’s case was authorized by Lt. Gov. Gray Davis, who was acting governor at the time.

“The offer was later rescinded by Gov. Wilson when Mr. [Bill] Cosby said he didn’t want public money spent on a reward,” Low said.

Despite several requests from Gorena, the Fullerton City Council also refused to post a reward in the case. Gorena said that Fullerton police have also refused to ask the television crime show “America’s Most Wanted” to do a report about Troy’s slaying nationwide.

Phil Lerman, co-executive producer of the show, said he is familiar with Gorena’s story and is saddened by her search for Troy’s killers.

But this is “not the kind of case where we can help out,” he said.

“I am very sorry. I truly wish her the best in her search for answers and justice,” Lerman said. “She deserves this much. Believe me, I know it’s heartbreaking. Situations like this can destroy a family or make them enormously strong.”

In a recent interview, Gorena’s hands trembled and she cried softly as she spoke about her son’s death. She wore a button with Troy’s photo and his gold chain, from which dangled a miniature Dallas Cowboys helmet. He was a Cowboy fan and adored running back Emmitt Smith. Troy was wearing a Cowboy jersey with Smith’s number when he died.

Troy grew up in Fullerton with other young people who claimed membership in various street gangs. Although prosecutors said Troy was not a gang member, he knew about life on the streets.

“Troy was a normal kid. He played Little League and was in a bowling league,” Gorena said. Gorena moved her family to Perris after her husband’s death in 1995, but Troy liked to hang out with friends in Fullerton.

Gorena said that her two sons and daughter support her effort to bring Troy’s killers to justice. However, her children and her husband’s parents have told her that perhaps she too has done all she can.

“They tell me to let go,” Gorena said. “Troy’s death has overwhelmed me. I don’t know how to live without my son. I’ve been put in a world where I don’t want to be.”