In all, as many as 20 detectives and uniformed officers would join the hunt for Bachan's killer -- extraordinary resources for a hit-and-run investigation.
The effort paid off. Amid all the bogus tips was a real lead: a phone call from someone who identified the driver as Claudia Cabrera, a 30-year-old South Los Angeles woman. On an unannounced visit to her home, detectives saw shards of broken window glass on the carport floor. Cabrera told police her husband had been in an accident, but was vague about the details and said she didn't know where he or the car had gone, police said. In what would prove to be a crucial break, Cabrera gave the detectives her cellphone number.
A surveillance detail kept watch on Cabrera. Early the next morning, Det. Chris Barling of the South Bureau's Criminal Gang Homicide Group reached out to an FBI agent he knew who had expertise in tracking cellphones. Within a few hours, using call records and other data from Cabrera's cellphone provider, the agent determined that she was in the immediate vicinity when Bachan was struck.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Friday, May 08, 2009 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 4 National Desk 2 inches; 77 words Type of Material: Correction
Hit-and-run reward: An article in Monday's Section A examining two hit-and-run fatalities said staffers for Los Angeles Councilman Bernard Parks had arranged for a reward in one of the cases without first receiving a request from the Los Angeles Police Department. The article cited an LAPD officer on that point, but department officials now say the officer was unaware that a commanding officer had contacted Parks' office to inquire about a reward before the offer was made.
In the days that followed, police would piece together Cabrera's movements that night. She and her husband, Josue Luna, left their infant son with a baby-sitter at a friend's house near USC and drove to the San Fernando Valley with the friend for a party, police said.
Shortly before 3 a.m., the couple returned to drop off their friend and pick up the 5-month-old baby. Then they headed home. Cabrera was behind the wheel and Luna -- the heavyset Latino witnesses had seen dragging Bachan's friend off the hood -- was in the passenger seat, police said.
Detectives returned to Cabrera's house with a search warrant and, by late afternoon, took her into custody.
Before a phalanx of TV cameras, high-ranking police officials and council members announced the arrest. "I really want to thank the press for keeping this story alive," Bachan's mother said through tears. "That was my goal."
Cabrera has pleaded not guilty to charges of vehicular manslaughter and hit-and-run. A few days after her arrest, Luna was caught by federal border agents trying to re-enter the country after fleeing to Mexico. He was charged with being an accomplice to a crime. In television interviews after posting bail, he expressed remorse for the crash and for leaving the scene, but said he believed the traffic light had been green.
Adrianna Bachan had been dead less than a week.
