The search for Agapito Nicolas' killer unfolded differently.
No detective was summoned to the crime scene -- common in hit-and-runs in which the victim does not die at the scene. Instead, uniformed officers collected what information they could and wrote a report. As with Bachan, there wasn't much evidence: no license plate, no description of the driver, only two witnesses, who said they believed the car had been a silver Volkswagen Jetta.
The next morning, the case was assigned to Det. Michael Kaden. A 13-year veteran of hit-and-run investigations, Kaden read the crime scene report and knew he was in for a long day. He drove to the scene and spent the morning looking for more witnesses or security cameras that might have captured the incident. He drove back to LAPD's Central station to make copies of an "Information Wanted" flier, then returned to the crosswalk and spent much of what remained of the day handing the fliers to passersby.
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.
A news release elicited no interest from newspapers or television stations. Kaden would give no interviews that day or any other until contacted by The Times. Deputy police chiefs and City Council members would host no big press conferences. The public would not hear Nicolas' girlfriend, Joaquina Ramos, talk about how he used to slip her children $20 bills wrapped in napkins to pay for groceries or how people who knew him called him Tito. They would not see the hurt on the face of Ramos' daughter, who considered Nicolas, a legal U.S. resident, her father.
"I want justice," Ramos said in an interview with The Times, the same wish that Bachan's mother had expressed.
Nearly four weeks passed before the City Council approved a $50,000 reward without any fanfare. The reward remains in limbo, awaiting the signature of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
"This is basically a worst-case scenario," Kaden said in an interview. "I don't even know if I am looking for a man or a woman."
Kaden considered knocking on doors of the auto body shops that line Mission Road in East L.A. to see if anyone had worked on a silver Jetta. Then he decided it would be a waste of time, since no witness could describe what damage, if any, the car sustained.
"I could go and ask to look at their records of all the Jettas that came in with broken windshields, but they'll look at me and say, 'What records?' " Kaden said.
