CA CA - Johnnie Herrera, 20, Oxnard, 27 Aug 1971

[Bobby88]

I sent the info about Johnnie from Intelius to Det. Lynette Fenton this morning and already got a response:

I remember finding that information on another database – I remember following up on Chelsea, MA, and a few of the others; no luck.

Thanks for the info though.

Lynette Fenton

 

[Bobby88]

Fellow sleuther Gia suggested that I send in Johnnie's case to 48 Hours, but their e-mail address didn't work for some reason, so I sent the case to Dateline NBC instead. Gia then suggested that if more people send the case into Dateline or 20/20, the show may see that multiple different people are interested in the case and they might actually consider profiling it. So if anyone wants to send a brief description of Johnnie's case to Dateline (I already sent my long e-mail about the case with all the details), their address is dateline@nbc.com.

20/20 doesn't accept submissions via e-mail and require that submissions be sent in a self-addressed stamped envelope to:

20/20
147 Columbus Avenue
New York, NY 10023

If anyone is interested in seeing Johnnie's case profiled on either of these shows, please submit it.

 

[Bobby88]

It appears that Johnnie has been ruled out as the following John Does on Namus. (WARNING: Some have postmortem pics!)

https://identifyus.org/cases/6632
https://identifyus.org/cases/2667
https://identifyus.org/cases/6762 
https://identifyus.org/cases/9086
https://identifyus.org/cases/6507
https://identifyus.org/cases/6634

It's nice to know someone is actually comparing his brother's DNA to rule victims in or out.

 

[Bobby88]

Another thing that another member (can't remember exactly who) raised an interesting point that I never considered. Do we know for sure that Johnnie's twin brother Joe DID NOT attend the party that night? I always assumed he didn't, figuring that if he did, he'd know what happened to Johnnie because he was there.

However, I never entertained the possibility that they both went and that Joe simply left the party early and Johnnie decided to stay. That would make the phrase "last seen at a bachelor party" make a lot more sense because Joe last saw his brother at the party, not leaving it.

Also, even though Johnnie and Joe were young adults, they were twins and being the same age, probably had a lot of the same friends. I think it's very possible that both brothers knew the people who had the party and that both were invited. It just seems to me that if only Johnnie was invited and it was a mutual friend of him and his twin, wouldn't you think Joe would wonder why his twin brother was invited but not himself?
I think Joe was probably there that night.

The question becomes what happened after Joe left his brother behind at the party? Was it in fact something or someone at the party who caused the disappearance? Or did Johnnie in fact leave only to get come to some type of harm elsewhere?

 

[Bobby88]

I found Elidet Bordon (the woman who contacted me last year about writing an article about Johnnie's case for her crime magazine) on Facebook and PM'd her on there since her blog has been taken down. I told her about how I sent the case to Dateline and asked if she was ever able to get an interview with Joe Herrera that she said she was going to try to obtain and then send me tape recordings of said interview for my research purposes. She also told me last year that she was working closely with the Oxnard PD since her blog and magazine involved Ventura County cold cases, so I asked if she could get in touch with them and get answers to those questions I asked.

I'll let you know if she ever gets back to me, but I doubt she will.

 

[Bobby88]

Bump.

 

[Bobby88]

[SIZE=-2][SIZE=-2][SIZE=-2][SIZE=-2][SIZE=-2][SIZE=-2][SIZE=-2][SIZE=-2][SIZE=-2][SIZE=-2]I'm sending a letter on Monday to Dateline NBC producer David Corvo asking if they are interested in Johnnie's case. With any luck, he or someone on the staff will receive it and get back to me one way or the other. [/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE]
[SIZE=-2][SIZE=-2][SIZE=-2][SIZE=-2][SIZE=-2][SIZE=-2][SIZE=-2][SIZE=-2][SIZE=-2][SIZE=-2]I actually sent an e-mail to the show, but I'm also sending a hard copy letter to them just to get their attention. Anyone can send an e-mail nowadays, but sometimes people really get the point when they have a tangible letter in the mail rather than an e-mail which can always end up being deleted, either accidentally or intentionally.

As you can see when you [SIZE=-2]view my user profile[/SIZE], I've made Johnnie my avatar after six years of not having one.[/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE]

 

[Bobby88]

I just received a registered letter from Dateline NBC thanking me, but saying that the case isn't what they were looking for and encouraging me to pursue other programs.

I'm going to write to 48 Hours Mystery.

 

[Bobby88]

Bump.

 

[Bobby88]

Bump.

 

[Bobby88]

Bump. Still no word from 48 Hours.

 

[Bobby88]

[SIZE=-2][SIZE=-2][SIZE=-2][SIZE=-2][SIZE=-2][SIZE=-2][SIZE=-2][SIZE=-2][SIZE=-2][SIZE=-2] I thought of a combination accident/manslaughter theory.

Perhaps Johnnie was given a spiked drink at the party without knowing it was spiked. He thought it tasted odd, but didn't feel any different and thought nothing of it. It was when he got behind the wheel to go home that whatever was in the drink took effect and he couldn't drive properly and crashed. Or possibly the drug may have caused his heart to shut down, so he died at the wheel and was already dead before the car ever crashed. The person/people who spiked his drink may not have made any connection between the spiked drink and his disappearance because when they last saw him, he was fine.[/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE]

 

[Bobby88]

Bump.

 

[Bobby88]

Bump.

 

[Ambercat]

I came across an article about Patrick Kearney (after his arrest) and one part of it (on the second page) reminded me of Johnnie --

All of the victims identified so far have been young men, most of them in their teens or early 20s, either white or Mexican-American.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=oGlQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=v1kDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1457%2C2228315

I still think Johnnie may have been a victim of Patrick Kearney. Several years after Johnnie's disappearance, he killed Arturo Ramos Marquez. Like Johnnie, Arturo was Mexican American and from Oxnard. Arturo was 24 years old, a little older than Johnnie. He might have picked Mr. Marquez up in Los Angeles and not Oxnard (on the day he disappeared, Arturo Marquez had met with an attorney in Los Angeles earlier in the day, this sort of messes up my theory). A couple of days after he disappeared, a manilla envelope containing Arturo's car keys and a typed note in Spanish stating that the keys were to Arturo's car showed up via mail to his apartment. Patrick Kearney is fluent in Spanish.

For some reason, after his disappearance, Johnnie's family checked the skid row section of Los Angeles. I wonder if (and its a large IF) he left the party to go to this area to maybe buy something to keep the party going. Patrick Kearney and his friend, David Hill, frequented a bath house near skid row called the Midtowne Spa (to my surprise it is actually still there and still in business). This is how he was eventually caught because John LeMay had told a friend that he had met a friend named Dave at the gym (Midtowne Spa) and he was going to go see him. John LeMay, Patrick Kearney, and David Hill had all signed in multiple times at Midtowne. I wonder if Johnnie had car trouble or another issue while in this part of LA and had the misfortune to meet Kearney there? Probably the sign in sheet for August 27, 1971 is long gone to see if Patrick Kearney went there that night.

 

[Bobby88]

I came across an article about Patrick Kearney (after his arrest) and one part of it (on the second page) reminded me of Johnnie --



http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=oGlQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=v1kDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1457,2228315

I still think Johnnie may have been a victim of Patrick Kearney. Several years after Johnnie's disappearance, he killed Arturo Ramos Marquez. Like Johnnie, Arturo was Mexican American and from Oxnard. Arturo was 24 years old, a little older than Johnnie. He might have picked Mr. Marquez up in Los Angeles and not Oxnard (on the day he disappeared, Arturo Marquez had met with an attorney in Los Angeles earlier in the day, this sort of messes up my theory). A couple of days after he disappeared, a manilla envelope containing Arturo's car keys and a typed note in Spanish stating that the keys were to Arturo's car showed up via mail to his apartment. Patrick Kearney is fluent in Spanish.

For some reason, after his disappearance, Johnnie's family checked the skid row section of Los Angeles. I wonder if (and its a large IF) he left the party to go to this area to maybe buy something to keep the party going. Patrick Kearney and his friend, David Hill, frequented a bath house near skid row called the Midtowne Spa (to my surprise it is actually still there and still in business). This is how he was eventually caught because John LeMay had told a friend that he had met a friend named Dave at the gym (Midtowne Spa) and he was going to go see him. John LeMay, Patrick Kearney, and David Hill had all signed in multiple times at Midtowne. I wonder if Johnnie had car trouble or another issue while in this part of LA and had the misfortune to meet Kearney there? Probably the sign in sheet for August 27, 1971 is long gone to see if Patrick Kearney went there that night.

That actually seems like a very plausible theory. Johnnie could have simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time. I believe it's quite possible that Johnnie could be one of the victims that the article alluded to that may "never be found".

 

[Bobby88]

Bump.

 

[Bobby88]

Bump.

 

[Ambercat]

Recently, I have had access to the LA Times database of old news articles and I found one about Patrick Kearney that made me think of Johnnie. Its called Workable Clues Found in Trash-Bag Case dated July 15, 1977. The article is talking about the victims of Patrick Kearney --

Arturo Ramos Marquez, 24, was found shot to death and dumped nude along Interstate 10 near Banning in Riverside County March 3, 1977. He was last seen alive on Feb. 26 in Oxnard where he lived. Kearney has been charged with his murder.

I'm not sure if the link will work because you have to have a membership -- http://search.proquest.com/docview/158325551/13FCBD89E6CE58B3A6/83?accountid=46298

I had been under the impression from Angel of Darkness by Dennis McDougal that Mr. Marquez was last seen when he had lunch with an attorney at a restaurant in Los Angeles. If he was last seen in Oxnard and not Los Angeles, that could mean that for some reason or another, Patrick Kearney visited Oxnard on occasion.

 

[Bobby88]

Recently, I have had access to the LA Times database of old news articles and I found one about Patrick Kearney that made me think of Johnnie. Its called Workable Clues Found in Trash-Bag Case dated July 15, 1977. The article is talking about the victims of Patrick Kearney --



I'm not sure if the link will work because you have to have a membership -- http://search.proquest.com/docview/158325551/13FCBD89E6CE58B3A6/83?accountid=46298

I had been under the impression from Angel of Darkness by Dennis McDougal that Mr. Marquez was last seen when he had lunch with an attorney at a restaurant in Los Angeles. If he was last seen in Oxnard and not Los Angeles, that could mean that for some reason or another, Patrick Kearney visited Oxnard on occasion.

Yeah, that link asks for some type of code to view the article.

The more I read about Kearney, the more I think Johnnie fits the profile of many of his victim. From what I gather, many of Kearney's victims were young, attractive Latino males. Johnnie may have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time.