A Case of ‘Standout’ Teens and Brutally Slain Parents

To neighbors and friends, the Najeras were the ideal family. They had one son--polite and religious--whom they adored. They had a nice house and a comfortable lifestyle. Lots of expensive presents at Christmas. Private schooling for their boy.

Why then, were Jose and Elena Najera brutally slashed to death in their Garden Grove home three days after the holiday?

Both had been stabbed repeatedly in the torso, possibly with a hatchet. They died in a bedroom, but nothing seemed to be missing from their tidy home on Merrill Street. Strings of Christmas lights still twinkled around the garage and windows outside.

Their bloodied bodies were discovered by their son, 19-year-old Jose “Joe” Jr. Police have since arrested his best friend, Gerald Thomas Johnson, 19. They charged him Wednesday with murder, a move that shocked the victims’ relatives and, police say, their grieving son.

But the case is still open, and detectives say they now have questions for Joe Najera and two of his buddies, all of whom were with Johnson the night of the slayings.

Najera and the two other teens have not been named as suspects. Detectives interviewed all three and said they plan to talk to Najera again soon. Police said Wednesday that the killer was accompanied by at least one other person, but they aren’t sure who.

“We’ve turned up the heat with the arrest of this one kid, and we’re going to let this simmer a little,” said Garden Grove police Capt. Dave Abrecht. “We think there’s more information than we’re being told.”

Reached at a friend’s house Wednesday, Joe Najera refused to comment on the murders or elaborate on what he and his friends were doing that night. He said he hadn’t seen Johnson since the night of the killings.

“And I don’t want to,” he added softly. As for a possible motive for someone to kill his parents, he said: “Frankly, I don’t know why.”

The four teenagers--Najera; Johnson, 19, of Villa Park; and an 18- and 19-year-old from Huntington Beach--graduated together from Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana last year. They were good kids who never got in trouble, “standouts” among some 2,100 other students, officials said.

Popular and personable with his teachers, Joe Najera was a good student who sang in the school’s choir as well as his local church’s. Johnson worked on Mater Dei’s television productions, a passion that brought him back after graduation this summer, because he wanted to help other students produce their own work.

“He’s a good kid,” Principal Patrick Murphy said of Johnson. “He never had any problems. He was involved in school, never in any trouble. When I saw his picture in the paper this morning, I was shocked. This is a very sad . . . situation.”

Police Want to Hear More From the Son

The teenagers told police they were together at Johnson’s parents’ house in Villa Park on Dec. 28, the night of the murders. Drinking alcohol, the boys played pool and video games and watched movies throughout the evening, police said. Joe Najera made the gruesome discovery at 4:30 a.m. when he returned home.

But police said Johnson left the Villa Park house at some point hours earlier, and officials told The Times they want to hear more from Joe Najera.

“He hasn’t been forthcoming with the whole events of the night before,” Abrecht said.

The victims’ relatives, however, said the teenager is in shock and grieving and should be left alone.

“He loved his parents more than anything,” said cousin Gabriel Gonzalez. “He can’t believe what has happened, and now to think his best friend was involved. . . . It is very hard for him. It’s very hard for everyone.”

Using DNA they said linked Johnson to the crime, police arrested him Tuesday at a Costa Mesa psychiatric hospital, where he was admitted several days after the murders. The charges filed against him Wednesday include three “special circumstance” designations that could bring the death penalty if he is convicted.

Detectives also seized clothing, computer equipment and potential weapons during searches of Johnson’s home and the Huntington Beach residences of the two other friends. The murder weapon has not been found, and police would not discuss a possible motive.

When Joe Najera returned to his house to help police determine whether there had been a robbery, he said he could not find anything missing or out of the ordinary. There was nothing to suggest a struggle had taken place, although neighbors said they noticed a bloody handprint on an outside wall behind the house.

“Whoever did it was kind of messy about it,” said Brandi Owen, 20, who lives next door.

Detectives believe the couple was attacked between 3 and 4 a.m. Jose Najera, police said, was probably targeted first as he slept. His wife, who was sleeping in a separate bedroom, was most likely slain after getting up to investigate.

“We think . . . she came down the hall when she heard a scuffle, and then was killed,” Abrecht said.

Police said they are still combing the house for clues and are confident that the DNA evidence they have gathered so far is conclusive. Joe Najera and his friends voluntarily gave police DNA samples a few days after the slayings, but because evidence at the crime scene allegedly pointed to Johnson, investigators asked the crime lab to evaluate his sample first. Results of the other DNA samples have not been returned.

“The evidence points to there being one or more additional suspects in the house at the time of the killing,” said Sgt. Mike Handfield. “And we are in the process of looking further to see if any property was taken, and the comparison of DNA and fingerprints that were left behind.”

Joe Najera, who would work occasionally with his father in the family construction business, had been saving money with his parents for a trip to Mexico next year, neighbors said. The couple came to the U.S. about 23 years ago.

Friends and neighbors said the Najeras appeared to have a happy life.

Maurice Turpin, who lives nearby, recalled how the teenager would water his mother’s prized rose bushes and wave at anyone who passed by. “It seemed he had quite a few friends.”

Many attended the Najeras’ funeral last week along with Mater Dei’s principal, who said they are struggling to make sense of the deaths and arrest of one of their own. The school’s choir sang at the service. “People are just in disbelief and shock,” Murphy said. “They were just such good kids.”

Staff writer Meg James and correspondent Ana Cholo-Tipton contributed to this report.