View photos from the Feb. 29 memorial walk.
Detectives from the Santa Maria Police Department (SMPD) and members of the community walked with the parents of Brayan Mejia-Molina through the area of West Sonya and South Thornburg streets during the evening of Feb. 29, distributing fliers in the hopes of finding the person responsible for killing their son.
Mejia-Molina, 18, was found shot to death inside of a car sitting in front of the Vizcaya Apartments in the 500 block of West Sonya Lane on Dec. 4, 2015. His death is still unsolved.
The walk was organized by SMPD detectives following the success of a similar event on Feb. 22, which was held in search for clues in the homicide of 17-year-old Oscar Daniel Joaquin, who was killed last August.
“We’re hoping that people will come forward and talk about what they know,” said SMPD Sgt. Paul Van Meel, one of the organizers of the walk.
Unlike the Feb. 22 walk, which attracted nearly 100 people, only a handful of people showed on Feb. 29, including Mejia-Molina’s father, Osmin, and Santa Maria Mayor Alice Patino.
The group met at 6 p.m. at the memorial site where Mejia-Molina was found and they walked east down West Sonya Lane and nearby streets, posting fliers underneath windshield wipers and delivering them by hand to passersby.
By dark, they returned to the original site where Osmin Mejia, through an interpreter, urged anyone with information to speak out.
“I miss him very much,” Mejia said, with tears welling in his eyes. “In truth, he was a good kid. He wasn’t into drugs. He didn’t deserve this to happen to him. He’s all I had. It’s difficult to keep going, but I have to fulfill promises I made to him.”
This article appears in Mar 3-10, 2016.
