When Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Juan Abel Escalante was gunned down in August outside his boyhood home in Cypress Park, theories abounded on possible suspects and a motive.
The early focus of Los Angeles Police Department detectives was whether the slaying was related to Escalante's job at the Men's Central Jail, where he guarded the county's most dangerous inmates, including members of the Mexican Mafia.
Investigators also combed for clues in Escalante's personal life, examining whether the slaying may have stemmed from divorce proceedings between the deputy and his wife, who reconciled shortly before the killing.
But, so far, those trails have led to dead ends -- and the mystery of who killed Escalante and why has endured.
Now, authorities have begun to consider a new scenario: that Escalante was slain by local gang members -- perhaps by assailants who didn't even know he was a lawman.
Detectives have been looking more closely into gang activity in the neighborhood where the 27-year-old deputy grew up and lived. They are especially interested in the long-running feud between the notorious Avenues Gang and rival Cypress Park gang, whose territory includes the northeast Los Angeles neighborhood where Escalante was killed.
As the months go by, the need for a break in the case is becoming more urgent.
"We are focusing on the gang angle," said Det. Tom Matthew of the LAPD's Robbery-Homicide Division. "But we are still keeping all of our options open."
Despite the setbacks, L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca said he remains optimistic that detectives will solve the case, even if it takes many more months.
"We are being very deliberative here. They are doing everything possible that can be done," he said. "All homicides are basically who-done-it's."
Los Angeles police today will announce a $95,000 reward for information leading to a prosecution in the case. But investigators also know that finding new witnesses four months after the killing is proving difficult, especially when they fear reprisals from neighborhood gangsters.
"The circumstances surrounding the murder give the investigators strong reason to believe that there are people with information who have not come forward," the department said in a statement to be released today.
