MURDERED: Eric Velasquez

Written By M Diaries

To Eric Velasquez, family was everything.

The second of four boys, Eric looked up to his older brother and absolutely adored his younger ones. He wasn’t just a brother—he was a protector, a role model, a constant presence. Even as a teenager in his late teens and early twenties, Eric wasn’t chasing the usual things. He wasn’t out spending his paycheck on himself—he was treating his family to dinner, making memories, showing love in the quiet, thoughtful ways that mattered most.

When life threw him a curveball and he had to step away from college to help out at home, Eric didn’t complain. He adjusted. He moved back in with his parents, found a job that fit around their needs, and kept showing up—for his family, for his responsibilities, for the future he was still building.

And it was that family he was returning to the night he was gunned down in cold blood outside an apartment building in March of 1994.

Eric never made it home.

And decades later, his family is still searching for answers, haunted by the silence, by the injustice, by everything Eric could’ve been.

Photos of Eric

Apartment building

Gravsite

Reward poster

 

The Governor of California announced in 2022 that any information leading to the arrest and conviction in Eric’s case, as well as 3 other unsolved murders, would be eligible for a $50,000 reward. The victim’s family has also offered a $1,000 reward and additional rewards are offered by Crime Stoppers and We-Tip.

Anyone with information on the unsolved murder of Eric Velasquez is asked to call Santa Paula Police Detective S. Virani at 805-525-4474 or Ventura County Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-TIPS.

 
 
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UNSOLVED: Leigh Occhi