2002     Justin Black, a 16 year old Corralitos student, was drinking with his best friend when they got into an argument. The friend hit him over the head with a baseball bat. Early the following morning, he went into a coma and died.

2002     Michael Angel Garcia, an 18 year old student at Everett Alvarez High School in Salinas, was walking with his friend a block a way from his home when a 17 year old gunman opened fire, killing him.

2002     Antonio Jose Rangel, a 16 year old student at Santa Rita High School in Salinas, was a passenger in a car that was sprayed with gunfire by a passing car in a gang-related shooting.

2002     Nathan Joel Perez, a 14 year old student at El Sausal Junior High in Salinas, was killed by a gang-related shooting..

2002      Julio Moreno, an 18 year old King City student, was shot dead in front of a home on Maple Avenue. Two of his friends were wounded and rushed to the hospital.

2000     Javier Ramirez, an 18 year old Salinas student, was killed by a bullet fired from a white, four-door subcompact car that drove by as he stood talking with friends.

2000      Rafael Trejo Martinez, a 17 year old Greenfield student, was killed by a single gunshot in front of the Greenfield Inn.

2000     Christopher Torres, a 15 year old San Benito High student, was shot by his stepfather, Joaquin Guitierrez, when he tried to intervene to protect his mother.  His mother was also fatally shot.  Guitierrez fled the scene, but committed suicide 6 months later when his car was identified and chased down by the CHP.

2000     Mark Andrew Moreno, a San Benito High freshman, was killed by a sophomore during a confrontation in front of an apartment complex.  Moreno ran when he saw the other kid pull out a .22 caliber rifle.  He was shot in the back.  School authorities said that Moreno had been a normal student with no problems with fighting.

1998    Priya Matthews, a 35 year old student at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, was killed and her 27 year old classmate was critically injured in a late night drive-by shooting at the foot of a commercial wharf in Monterey.  The bullets were fired from a small, light-colored, four-door car that had pulled up nearby.

1998    Alex Lopez, a 19 year old Cabrillo College student, was sitting in a car with his girlfriend in front of the Kennedy Youth Center in Watsonville.  He was shot and killed by Adrian Melgoza, Rafael Bernabe, and Hernandez Ramirez, who mistook him for a rival gang member.  Melgoza is now serving a sentence of 52 years to life for the killing; Bernabe and Ramirez went free.

1998    Augustine Macias, a 16 year old San Benito High student, was attacked at a party by more than 10 young men and stabbed to death.  His older brother Manuel and his friends Eloy Gonzales, 19, and Nicholas Campos, 18, were also seriously injured.

1998     Christina Williams, a 13 year old Seaside student, disappeared on June 12, 1998 when she went out for a walk near her home in Fort Ord.  Seven months later, her body was discovered in a field a few miles away. The case remains unsolved.

1997    Ulysses Huante, a popular 18 year old Cabrillo College freshman, was abducted and killed during a carjacking in Freedom.  His body was found just off Highway 129 at Chittenden pass.  Ten days later, Jesus Madrigal and Francisco Marquez were found in Merced, sleeping in the stolen car.  They were convicted of the killing.

1997     Kristopher Olinger, a 17 year old Monterey High School student, was stabbed to death in a beach parking lot in Pacific Grove.  The murder remains unsolved.

1996    Oscar Perez, a 14 year old Watsonville High School student, was standing with his friends in an alley in Watsonville when they were approached by two men shouting gang slogans and firing weapons.  Oscar was shot in the chest and died; he had no known gang affiliation.  Carlos Gutierrez, 19, and Carlos Perez, 18, were arrested and plead guilty to the shooting.

1996    Augustin Jacobo, a 16 year old Aptos High School student, was standing in front of his house shortly after midnight when he was shot from a passing car.  Police believe the shooting was gang-related.

1995    Valente Patino, a 17 year old King City High School student, was in the campus parking lot when another student drove up.  The students, known to be members of rival gangs, got into an argument.  Valente was shot once in the chest with a sawed-off shotgun.  He died shortly after arriving at the hospital.

1995    Edgar Chacon, a 16 year old Santa Cruz High student, was fatally stabbed in a gang-related brawl near the Villa San Carlos apartments.  Chester Payton, 22, was arrested and charged with the slaying.

1995    Glen Whittle, Jr., a popular Salinas High School senior, was fatally shot while playing a game of pick-up football at a park.  Glen and his friends were approached by a group of teens who demanded money.  When they refused, a 17 year old pulled out a small handgun and fired several times.  Glen was hit by one of the bullets.  Ironically, Glen had been sent to live in Salinas after his sister was killed on the streets of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.

1994    Jorge Cortez, a 16 year old Watsonville High School student, was shot to death along with his 9 year old sister Jessica after heading home from a small bakery.  Witnesses saw two young men fleeing the scene.

1994    Ismail Chavez, a 16 year old Salinas High School student, was found one Friday evening outside K’s market on Laurel drive.  He had been shot and killed with a single bullet.

1992    Mariana Zavala, a 14 year old Aptos High School freshman, was found early in the morning on the campus of Freedom elementary school.  She had been assaulted the previous night and died from being slammed against the ground or a building.  Matias Soto, then 21, is serving a life sentence for the killing.

1992    Gabe Caesar, an 18 year old Cabrillo College freshman, was hit by a stray bullet while dancing at a rave at a warehouse in Freedom.  The bullets were fired because 18 year olds Juan Valdez and Jose Mendoza had been denied entrance to the rave by the bouncer.  Valdez and Mendoza went and got their 21 year old friend Edgar Valencia and Valencia’s 22 caliber rifle.  Valencia fired 11 bullets through the metal door of the warehouse, killing Gabe and injuring five other partygoers.  Valencia, Mendoza, and Valdez were convicted of second-degree murder and 5 counts of attempted murder.  They received a sentences of 15 years to life.

1991    Anthony Olvera, 21, had just graduated from college in Mexico City and was visiting relatives in Las Lomas.  While visiting Sandrino’s Ristorante & Bar in Gilroy, he was shot in the back of the neck by three members of a Watsonville gang.  Olvera was not affiliated with any gang, but the gang members believed that the car he had been riding in belonged to a member of a rival gang  Jose Alvira, 21, Joseph Ancira, 18, and Chris Wimer, 18, are serving sentences of 15 years to life for the shooting.

1989    Scott Peterson, a 24 year old UC Santa Cruz student,was found early Sunday morning at a remote site in the Santa Cruz mountains.  He had been killed by a pipe bomb on a battery timer.  Authorities ruled it an apparent suicide, although no suicide note was found. 

1988    Lisa Koehler, a 16 year old San Benito High student, disappeared from work on July 26, 1988.  Her body was found the next day on a rural road outside Hollister.  She had been raped, beaten, and run over with her own car. 

1988    Martha De La Rosa, a popular 22 year old Gavilan College student, did not return home from work on April 1, 1998.  Her body was found the next day on the campus of San Benito High School, where she had attended.  She had been raped, beaten, and strangled. San Benito High junior Gustavo Marlow was later tied to the killing of Koehler and De La Rosa by DNA evidence.

1988     Ernie King, a legally blind and hearing-impaired San Jose State graduate student, was trying to hitch a ride back to his home in the Santa Cruz mountains when he was picked up by a group of five men in a pickup truck.  They beat up King and left his body by the side of the road.  Gregory Kern, 24, and Robert Spedding, 29, were later tried and convicted of killing King.

1986    Joseph Vomvolakis, a 21 year old CSU Hayward student and former Cabrillo College football player, was fatally shot while visiting the home of his girlfriend’s parents in Aptos.  He had tried to intervene when he found Kenneth E. Luther, 22, attempting to steal the stereo equipment from his girlfriend’s car.  Luther shot him once in the abdomen and once in the back of the head.  Luther is now serving a sentence of 19 years to life.

1979    Mary Guilford, a Cabrillo College Student, was hitchhiking home from school when she disappeared.  She was later identified as one of the victims of Herbert Mullin.

1979     Diane Steffy, a 21-year old UC Santa Cruz Student, was killed on a trail in Henry Cowell State Park.  Detectives think she picked up a hitchhiker shortly after leaving campus, who raped and killed her.  The murder remains unsolved.

1978     Jennifer McDowell, a 19 year old summer student at UC Santa Cruz, disappeared at a bus stop on Soquel Avenue.  Her remains were found a year later near Boulder Creek.

1977      Edward Silva, an 18 year old Watsonville high school student, was killed by his friend Robert Ackerman, also 18. Ackerman lead Silva to a grave he and another high school friend had dug in the Santa Cruz mountains and shot him in the back of the head. Ackerman was tried and convicted of the murder.

1973    Rosalind Russell and Alice Liu, UC Santa Cruz students, were hitchhiking home from campus when they disappeared.  They were later identified as victims of Ed Kemper.

1973     Alice Ko, a Santa Cruz High student, was hitchhiking in Santa Cruz when she disappeared.  She was later identified as one of the victims of Ed Kemper.