There are certain images that are so iconic to my upbringing that when I'm in their vicinity, I'm reminded what a happy youth I had growing up in Duarte and running up into and along the San Gabriel Foothills (Fish Canyon Falls, Van Tassel, Rincon, East & West Fork, & Crystal Lake) and the riverbed and the SG Canyon or Hwy 39 hiking & fishing. That was a great, adventurous, life explored with great friends and family.
This park wasn't always a park with Duarte's Museum. It was an empty field when we were kids. And, in fact, there's one memory that stands out when Tom and Joe were walking along El Encanto Parkway, parallel to the field, when they came across a dead body. So this field has a history that the new immigrants to the area would be shocked by.
Yeah, it was maybe 1978, late at night maybe 9pm, Tom & I went for a short drive down Fish Canyon Rd & made a right turn onto El Encanto Pkwy. We noticed someone laying in the gutter. There were no street lights back then. We only saw the guy from our headlights. We got out and tried to ask the guy if he was okay and as we turned him over to see his face we saw like 5-6 bullet holes in his upper body and there was a pool of blood under him. He was still moaning and trying to mutter something but he was incoherent. I drove super fast to the 7-11 at the end of El Encanto Pkwy & Huntington where you could always find a cop or two & sure enough I told the cops to follow me & brought them back to the body. The cops asked me & Tom to give a statement. As we were waiting, Ted Palmer drove by & he stopped and hung out with me & Tom for about 30 minutes until we were done giving our statement. It was likely a drug/cartel hit, but an easy spot to dump a body.
ReplyDeleteOkay so the story goes me and Tom my brother were driving down fish canyon we made a right turn on to Ellen Canto parkway and back then there were no street lights All we had was our headlights and in the gutter as we're driving we saw someone laying in the gutter we pulled over the guy was in his mid-20s not sure could have been Hispanic or maybe not sure and as we turn him over we asked him if he was okay but right away we could see there were maybe five or six or more bullet holes in his chest and stomach area and there was a pool of blood underneath him but he was still moaning but incoherent so I raced down to the 7-Eleven at the end of Ellen kento on Huntington since there's always one or two cops parked there and sure enough I explained to the cops what happened in told them to follow me to the location where the body was and they made us stick around for about 30 minutes and give a statement and as we're waiting in our car Ted Palmer just happened to drive by so he pulled over and hung out with us until the cops gave us the okay to leave since then I have heard from several sources that Duarte and the riverbed and the foothills at the top of greenbank has been a body dump area for gangs cartels whatever you want to call them
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