Family Remembers Slain Boy, 15, as ‘Charismatic, Compassionate’

A candlelight memorial adorned the front yard Tuesday of a 15-year-old West Hills boy who was found slain in Los Padres National Forest near Santa Barbara.

Poster-mounted photographs of Nicholas S. Markowitz were propped on stands around a table on the family’s front lawn, arranged with candles, food and messages, but friends and family were too overcome with emotion to talk about Nicholas.

“Nick was a very smart, charismatic, compassionate person,” his family said in a written statement. “He loved nothing more than to make people laugh. Nick participated in activities such as drama and karate. He loved drawing and video games. Nicholas Samuel Markowitz’s memory and smile live on in the hearts of his immediate family.”

The note was signed by his parents, Jeff and Susan Markowitz, and a brother and sister, and other family members.

Investigators said Tuesday that they did not know who killed Nicholas or why, but they confirmed that his recent disappearance was not his first. Relatives last saw Nicholas Aug. 6 at home and reported him missing two days later.

His bullet-pierced body was found Saturday, buried in a shallow grave near a hiking trail about 12 miles north of Santa Barbara.

“I understand he had not come home on previous occasions,” said Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Lt. Mike Burridge. “But that was just a one-night thing.”

Detectives with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department are working with the Los Angeles Police Department’s missing persons unit on the case.

The investigation Tuesday turned to Universal CityWalk, where friends and family members say the former Chatsworth High School freshman spent his free time, Burridge said. Nicholas would have attended El Camino High School in the fall as a transfer student, he said.

Eight detectives from the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Department were conducting interviews in Los Angeles because the LAPD was busy providing security for the Democratic National Convention downtown, Burridge said.

“We are looking at each and every option and scenario that we hear about,” Burridge said. “And we’re still talking to people in the neighborhood, friends and relatives.”