Life Insurance coverage Coverage Half Of Unsolved 1997 Homicide Of California Marine

Nov. 17--His nephews known as him the strongest man on the planet.

He had a "vibrant and glossy" bald head, his grasp sergeant stated with amusing. "You can see him from a mile away. He was quiet, well-mannered. He at all times stood up straight whether or not he was in army apparel or civilian garments."

Ron Parkhurst was a Marine. "A very good Marine," stated Grasp Sgt. Rene Robles.

Parkhurst was so gung-ho he was made a recruiter, understanding of the USMC substation in Huntington Seaside. There isn't a clarification for why in 1997 he walked out of that workplace, after 13 exemplary years within the army, and by no means got here again. He had a gathering scheduled with the household of a recruit, however he did not present.

Apparently, he favored to gamble.

One late spring afternoon, he ditched his obligations, hopped into his black, immaculate Ford Mustang, accompanied solely by an enormous assortment of music on compact discs, and headed to Las Vegas. Inexplicably, he spent every week hitting the casinos. He was sporting cutoff denims and a purple and white T-shirt when he walked out of the MGM Grand on June 18, 1997, the final day of his life.

On June 21, 1997, Ron Parkhurst was discovered floating within the distant Saddle Island Cove within the waters of Lake Mead about 30 miles from The Strip. The Clark County coroner concluded he had been within the water for about three days.

He had a .45-caliber bullet at the back of his head.

The U.S. Naval Prison Investigative Service and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police concluded the dying was a murder. The LVMPD report labeled the case as "homicide WDW" (with a lethal weapon). However "because of the lack of logical investigative leads, this investigation is closed," the NCIS stated in its report from June 1997. The case shall be reopened if both the Las Vegas police ask for help, or a suspect is recognized.

In 22 years, no suspect has been recognized, and the Las Vegas police haven't requested for assist. Though. there's a potential thread to the investigation that has not but been absolutely pursued.

"I've at all times felt he was killed execution-style," stated Diane Garrett, Ron's sister, and mom of the nephews who had been impressed with their uncle. "His dying was devastating. The household has by no means been the identical afterward."

Garrett has been in contact not too long ago with the Las Vegas police, the place a chilly case detective is taking one other have a look at the 22-year-old unsolved homicide. Chilly case investigator Terri Miller has spoken with Garrett, however didn't return a name from the Southern California Information Group.

"I used to be drop-jawed once I heard what occurred," Grasp Sgt. Robles stated. "All of us Marines felt like one in all our Marines was down."

A Marine remains to be down.

Saved a distance

Parkhurst might run. He was on the cross nation workforce at Handbook Excessive Faculty in Peoria, Illinois.

"He was at all times this child with an impish form of character," stated Garrett, his older sister. "If he obtained in bother, he would smile. He by no means took issues severely. He was at all times joking."

After highschool, he wanted some stability in his life so he picked the army, particularly the Marines. He labored as an plane mechanic.

He was stationed for some time in Tennessee the place he met Rebecca Carolyn DeLoach, who had been twice divorced. On Valentine's Day of 1992, Rebecca turned his spouse.

The unusual factor about his marriage was that Parkhurst did not inform his household about it. Garrett stated she known as him as soon as every week -- on Sunday nights -- and she or he would ask about Rebecca. Parkhurst by no means gave particulars.

"Who was the girl who answered the telephone?" Garrett would ask. "He would say, 'That was the maid.'"

Parkhurst and Rebecca moved to California, so that they had been far sufficient away to maintain his household guessing. When she stuffed out army varieties as his dependent after his dying, Rebecca listed a toddler named Justin, born in 1993. Parkhurst's household doesn't know if he was Justin's father.

Robles stated that by the point he met Parkhurst in 1995 or early 1996, he instructed everybody he was single. Rebecca was not invited by his household to his funeral.

Makes an attempt to achieve Rebecca for remark on this story had been unsuccessful.

Piecing collectively particulars

In 1997, Parkhurst was residing alone in an condominium on Thunder Highway in Irvine.

Instantly, in June, he dropped out of his life and went to Vegas. He checked right into a Motel 6. He made a number of small ATM withdrawals, none greater than $200, over the last week of his life, together with a withdrawal of $60 on June 18, 1997. That closing transaction left $53.85 in his checking account.

He was seen a number of occasions between June 15 and 18 on the MGM Grand.

At four a.m. on June 18, Parkhurst's Mustang was discovered deserted on an entry street subsequent to Lake Mead. His CD assortment was gone. His pockets was discovered, however it had no driver's license or ATM card inside. Garrett stated she has been instructed by police that a witness noticed one other automotive dashing away from Parkhurst's Mustang.

Three days later, on June 21, simply earlier than 10 a.m., a lady found Parkhurst's physique within the water. He had been shot within the occipital space of the cranium. Police had been in a position to get DNA samples from the automotive, however they proved to be inconclusive.

Police searched Parkhurst's Irvine condominium 5 days after his physique was found.

The report stated Parkhurst could have bought a life insurance coverage coverage within the months earlier than his dying. However there is no such thing as a follow-up report concerning the investigation into that potential lead.

'Disbelief'

Robles, who was Parkhurst's supervisor in Huntington Seaside, flew to Las Vegas to establish his physique. Parkhurst was buried in his costume blues, and Robles accompanied the casket to Parkhurst's household house in Peoria, Illinois.

Everybody on the aircraft was requested to stay seated whereas Parkhurst's casket was taken off the aircraft.

"Everybody was staring out the home windows of the aircraft," Robles stated. "His mother and father had been very damage. They had been in shock. Disbelief."

Parkhurst was given an honor guard funeral with a flag-folding ceremony.

A $5,000 reward was established for info resulting in an arrest. Nobody ever claimed the reward.

Leonard and Nancy Parkhurst, Ron's mother and father, each died within the 22 years since his homicide. Garrett stated her mother and father would not speak about his dying to her or at household gatherings.

"It was by no means spoken of," she stated.

A 12 months in the past, she was going by her mother and father' belongings when she discovered the intensive Choose Advocate Basic report on her brother's dying.

She began contacting individuals talked about within the report.

She has thought of promoting on a billboard in Orange County.

"That is one thing I've had rolling round in my mind -- a billboard," Garrett stated. "It might say, 'Are you aware what occurred to this particular person?'"

She stated the Las Vegas police are taking a brand new have a look at the case, and the chilly case investigator has requested permission to start interviewing individuals resembling Rebecca Parkhurst and a "particular person of curiosity."

Up to now, Garrett would not know if the brand new investigation has been launched.

"Any person has to know one thing," Garrett stated. "I need to know what occurred."

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