The Murder of Mary Lewis
For this case I watched an episode of On the Case with Paula Zahn. It’s season 14 episode 10, titled ‘A Killer Among Friends.’
A teenager is killed after a night out with friends.
Background
Mary Lewis was a 16 year old, and lived in Garden Grove, California, which is thirty miles from Los Angeles.
Mary came from a large family, she lived with her parents and two brothers and sister. All of Mary’s family members, except her dad, were interviewed in this episode. They all said Mary was exceptionally kind. If someone was being bullied, she’d stand up for them. She had many friends, and on the night she died she had been out all night being a typical teenager.
The Murder
A 911 call came into the Orange County police department around 1am on June 20, 1995. The 911 caller said he went outside after hearing a muffled scream. When he went outside there was a girl in the street, and it looked like she was the victim of a hit and run.
Officer Rex Bond was called to the scene. He said he immediately knew that it was not a hit and run scene. The victim didn’t have any broken bones and there was no broken glass around her. The victim had actually been stabbed, and she was still alive, but struggling to breathe. She was rushed to the hospital.
At the scene, there were three large pools of blood. The police also found bloody clothes that the paramedics had taken off the victim. Inside the clothes, they found a pager. While the police were looking through it, it went off. The page was from a man named James Lewis, he was calling his daughter to come home. The police asked James what his daughter looked like, and when he described her they realized she was their victim. The victim was identified as 16 year old Mary Lewis.
The police didn’t give Mary’s parents much information at the time, just that she had been taking to the hospital and there had been an accident. James also asked the police about Mary’s car, and the police realized whoever stabbed Mary had stolen her car.
Investigation
Mary’s parents arrived at the hospital. When they saw her, they realized she had not been in an accident. Mary had been taken into surgery, and died due to her injuries. Regina, Mary’s mom said that Mary’s dad fell to the floor after hearing this, which is so heartbreaking. Regina said the doctor’s words are forever engraved in her mind.
The police were able to get a description of Mary’s car, and an all points bulletin was put out for her white Nissan. The police also canvassed the neighborhood for witnesses or evidence, but they didn’t find anything.
Mary’s case was now a homicide, and her autopsy showed that it hadn’t been an accident or a carjacking like they thought. Mary had been stabbed ten times in the spinal cord, face and torso. The police said that whoever killed her was very angry. The police knew from information that her parents gave them that she had been with friends the whole day, so now they needed to trace her last steps.
Mary’s Last Steps
Mary’s parents said that they should interview Mary’s best friend Minny. Minny told the police that Mary picked her up at 3pm, and then they picked up another friend named Lettie. Mary, Minny and Lettie then drove to a park to meet a 21 year old named Richie, this was someone Mary had never met but was interested in. Lettie had used Mary’s car to pick up a few more friends, and they stayed at the park until 8pm. Minny said Mary dropped her off at her house, and left in the car with Lettie.
The police wanted to speak to Richie next. They went through Mary’s pager until they found his phone number, and asked him to come to the police station. When he arrived, they told him that Mary had died. He realized he was a person of interest.
Richie told the police that he and Mary did plan to meet up again that night, but that she never called him. He told the police that he was with other friends, and his alibi was confirmed. The police also searched his car with his permission. The police didn’t find any traces of blood or anything suspicious. Richie was cleared.
The police were back to square one, until they received a new tip.
A New Lead
The police received a tip from the San Diego police, which was 100 miles from Garden Grove. The San Diego PD said they found Mary’s car at an apartment complex, they didn’t realize it was a stolen car until they ran the license plate.
When the Garden Grove PD arrived, they realized the car had been stripped for parts, and had been cleaned. The police wanted to ask the tenant if they knew anything, since Mary’s car had been parked in her assigned spot.
The apartment belonged to a woman, who wasn’t named. The woman was asked if she knew anything about the car or how it got there. She said a few gang members dropped it off. The police thought she knew more than she was telling them, but maybe that it was out of fear. While the police were talking to the woman they noticed gang graffiti on her wall. The graffiti had been signed Ruben ‘Mousie.’
The police went back to the station and ran Ruben ‘Mousie.’ in the system. It came back to a Ruben Quintanar. He was a known gang member who had a lengthy criminal history. The police wanted to question him, but thought that he was dangerous, so they had several police agencies and a SWAT team go to his home.
When they arrived, Ruben was asleep on his couch. They surprised him and arrested him for auto theft.
Ruben’s Story
Investigator Ben Lux told Ruben that he didn’t care about the car theft, but that Ruben needed to tell him if he knew who killed Mary.
Ruben decided to talk. He said that he was woken up early in the morning on June 20 by several men. He said he only recognized one of them. The one person he knew, knew that he was known for getting rid of vehicles. Ruben didn’t ask many questions but went with the person he knew and a man who called himself ‘Little Man.’ Ruben said Little Man was intimidating, and told him that he had stabbed Mary.
The men drove to Alpine, CA, cleaned the blood from the car, stripped it and were planning to sell the parts for money. They also burned the rags that had been used to clean the car.
The police were very suspicious of Ruben’s story. They asked him why he was willing to help clean and cover up a murder? However, another tip came in from a woman saying she knew who killed Mary. She told the police that it was ‘Little Man,’ and that she also knew his first name was Alan.
The police ran this information in the system. It came back to a man named Alan Salomon, another local gang member with a long criminal history. He also had a connection to Mary, he was dating Mary’s friend Lettie.
Alan Salomon in a more recent photo and Mary Lewis
The police needed to bring Lettie in for questioning.
Lettie’s Story
Lettie was brought in. She told the police that after they dropped Minny off, she and Mary, and a few other guys went to her house. Mary had wanted to use her phone to call Richie, but Lettie wouldn’t let her. Lettie had called Alan and said that they were going to come and pick him up. Lettie told her guy friends about this plan, but not Mary. Lettie said she convinced Mary to let her drive, so they could take her friends home.
Mary started to realize that they weren’t actually doing what Lettie said after they were on the highway. Alan had actually lived in San Bernardino, and Mary was pissed because she didn’t have the gas or money to go that far.
They picked up Alan anyways, and Lettie said Alan was getting annoyed because Mary kept complaining and asking for gas money. One of the other men in the car eventually said that they heard Alan say “if she doesn’t shut up, I’ll hurt her.”
They went to drop off one Lettie’s friends. Mary had received a page from her parents, so she went to a nearby payphone to call them. Regina spoke to her daughter, and she said she remembers hearing anxiety in Mary’s voice. Mary told her she’d be home and that she was nearby. When Mary went back to her car, Alan attacked and stabbed her. He then drove off in her car with Lettie and a few other witnesses.
Lettie told the police that she didn’t know Mary would eventually die, but she never called the police or ambulance to get her help. Instead, she made a pact with Alan and her friends to not speak about what happened.
Alan Salomon was arrested a week later at his parent’s home. He didn’t talk and asked for a lawyer. Lettie and the other witnesses were given immunity if they agreed to testify against Alan.
Trial and Conviction
Alan’s trial started in December 1996. Regina, James and Mary’s siblings came face to face with Alan and the other witnesses. Regina said that Alan was cold and heartless, and had dead eyes. The family was also heartbroken that Lettie and the other men weren’t charged with anything and were able to walk the streets, while their sister couldn’t.
The prosecution said that Alan killed Mary because he had a bruised ego and she disrespected him in front of his girlfriend and friends. They also said Alan killed Mary over gas money.
Alan Salomon was found guilty of second degree murder, and was sentenced to 19 years to life in prison.
Other
Mary’s sister now works with the Parents of Murdered Children organization and talks about Mary’s story.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Yuck, these people are all scum. It pisses me off SO much that these rotten people were given immunity after killing someone because of gas money. Mary didn’t even know these people, but she let them in her car because she was nice and didn’t want to upset her friend. Some friend she had. This Lettie girl didn’t care about anyone but herself and her scummy boyfriend.
19 years to life seems a bit short in my opinion, I hope Alan rots in prison forever.
I couldn’t find many pictures of either Mary or Alan during my research.
Sources
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-03-15-me-38567-story.html
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-08-11-me-33979-story.html
