State Offers Reward in La Habra Killing

Gov. Gray Davis offered a $50,000 reward Friday for information leading to the conviction of those who killed a La Puente man last year.

Emilio M. Gomez, 67, was found shot to death inside his parked Nissan pickup Aug. 13 in the 1300 block of West Imperial Highway in La Habra. Family members had reported him missing six days earlier.

Friday, they said they were pleased with the governor’s offer of a reward.

“We’re ecstatic,” said Angie Casarez, Gomez’s niece. “We’ve waited over a year since his death. We’ve been trying to get the word out, and his killers haven’t been caught yet.”

Casarez said family members have been passing out fliers and writing letters to attract attention to the case.

The La Habra Police Department had offered its own $15,000 reward, which expired in March, said Cindy Knapp, a department spokeswoman. In May, La Habra Police Chief Dennis Kies filed a request with the governor’s office asking that the state offer a larger reward.

Maria Farrell, Gomez’s sister, had faxed a newspaper article to Kies about the governor offering reward money in another case.

The state reward, Knapp said, does not have a time limit.

Fran Clader, a spokeswoman for the Governor’s Office of Criminal Justice Planning, said state rewards must be requested by police chiefs. This was the first time La Habra had made such a request.

Anyone with information about the Gomez murder can call the La Habra Police Anonymous Hot Tip Line at (562) 905-9611.