One of Joanna Veil's coworkers was arrested the other day. He is being held in County Jail with bail set at a million dollars. He is suspected in a sexual assault case, with great bodily injury and death threats against the woman (not Joanna Veil--so far, this is unrelated to her murder). I won't post his name here, though it is elsewhere on the Internet in relation to this case and the locals know who it is.
There are times when the shadow draws so close to one's life--my younger daughter, who is nineteen, told her that this man was creepy and often pestered her when he saw her at the Ben Lomond Super--he offered more than once to give her rides to various places around the San Lorenzo Valley, which she refused. I am so glad she didn't go with him. Sooo glad and so grateful to the angels and ancestral spirits who guard my four kids.
I am thinking that whoever murdered Asha (which was her nickname and the name on her checker tag) had to have been a local. Despite the San Lorenzo Valley being a remote place, the area where her body was found is basically a place you have to know about.
Love Creek goes 'way up and is not inhabited near the end, but you wouldn't know this just trucking up the road, as there are houses for quite some time. At the very end of the road is a landslide and a memorial to two kids who died in the January 1982 landslide. The plaque implores people not to dump their garbage in the area. Asha's body was found near the end of this road. The end of Love Creek Road has always felt like such a wildly desolate, sorrowful place to me, and now it will be even more so.
Santa Cruz has always felt relatively safe to me, but I haven't been venturing out too much after dark these days, not until they make an arrest in this case. Rumors continue to fly like bats up a dark chimney; who knows what is true or not? And I remain deeply sad and filled with sorrow for Asha's family, for her coworkers, for the unspeakable tragedy of life just snuffed out--for what possible reason?
8 comments:
Thank you
Richard
And I am so glad your family is safe.
As you say.. SOOOOO glad
I am glad I found your site
thank you again for your work and site and sensitivity to the investigation
Hello - I am a Sheriff's detective working the Joanna Veil investigation. I would be interested in any information regarding suspicious contacts with your daughter, as mentioned in your blog. Please contact me at the email following address:
shf114@co.santa-cruz.ca.us
Or phone Sheriff's Investigations at:
831 454-2311
Thank you,
Detective Ian Patrick
Dear Richard:
I am so sad for what you must be going through right now. It is hard to kow what to say at this terrible and unspeakable time, except that there is an outpouring of love and support for all who knew and loved Asha and a desire for justice to happen. I do not know why these terrible tragedies come to people's lives.
I want the readers of this blog to know that I also did contact Detective Patrick. My information may be relatively minor, but I want to encourage people to contact the sheriff's office if they have any information regarding Asha's disappearance and death, or the arrest of her coworker in the (unrelated) sexual assault case. Your information may put another piece of the puzzle in place.
Dear Richard:
I am so sad for what you must be going through right now. It is hard to know what to say at this terrible and unspeakable time, except that there is an outpouring of love and support for all who knew and loved Asha and a desire for justice to happen. I do not know why these terrible tragedies come to people's lives. I will keep you and all of Asha's loved ones in my prayers and in my heart.
I want the readers of this blog to know that I also did contact Detective Patrick. My information may be relatively minor, but I want to encourage people to contact the sheriff's office if they have any information regarding Asha's disappearance and death, or the arrest of her coworker in the (unrelated) sexual assault case. Your information may help to put another piece of the puzzle in place.
It has been a difficult, creepy time to be a woman lately, hasn't it? Between this horrifying murder, the horrifying murder in suburban Denver, and the woman who had her throat slit and her newborn stolen, I'm getting more and more hesitant to leave the house. God protect us!
"Mrs. Brian Johnson," thank you so much for your comment. I think that, unfortunately, evil is going to roam among people for as long as civilization endures, and it will rear its ugly head when it will. And I don't know what the answer is, but to pray for guidance and protection, and do what we can to keep ourselves and our families safe.
Well, it's been over 3 months since Asha was killed and no closure...nada..zip...which leads me to think that a) the delay is due to the testing lab being overloaded with prior requests for evidence analysis from other cases; b) the evidence at hand has been analyzed but is not compelling enough to bring an indictment; c) the evidence is good but perhaps incomplete..prosecutor lacks the "smoking gun" required to convince a jury; or d) the evidence points to another, unknown assailant.
I lived in the San Lorenzo Valley most of my life. I shopped at the Ben Lomond Super from the time it was a small little shop with wooden floors until I moved from the Valley a couple years ago.
Over the years, more then a few sad passings have happened in our Valley and in the surrounding Santa Cruz area. I'm glad our hearts are soft enough to feel for those harmed. And Thankful so many continue to care. I pray for healing for Joanna Veil's family and friends. And I hope the person responsible, will come forward, take the responsibility for their actions and maybe find some healing themselves in knowing by coming forward they will not hurt anyone again. It must be a terrible thing to have to carry with them.
I would also like to just say, that in all the many, many years I have shopped at Ben Lomond Super I have been treated very kindly. The owner and his family always seemed to me, to be people who cared about the community and strove to provide us with new products and conviences that made our lives more enjoyable.
I grew up in Ben Lomond and even though I am living miles away right now, It will always be my home base. I wish everyone peace in their hearts...and healing.
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