PANORAMA CITY : Family Still Seeking Killer of Disabled Man

Maria, Patricia and Socorro Ornelas struggled to raise their mentally disabled brother, Jose, since his birth in Mexico 35 years ago.

Now they are desperately searching for his killer.

On Dec. 8, while visiting his sisters during a vacation from a group home for the disabled in Oklahoma, Ornelas disappeared from Patricia’s Panorama City house. A day later, his body was found in an alley behind a Downtown office building. He had been strangled and stripped of his watch, wallet, hiking boots and socks, police said.

The killing shocked the three sisters.

“Caring for my brother is what kept us together as a family, what made us work so hard in our lives,� said Maria Ornelas. “Something has to change about this city, where a person cannot walk without fear. My brother was defenseless.�

In February, a $25,000 reward was issued for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Ornelas’ killer, but LAPD detectives still say they have no leads. Because the reward lasts for only three months, the sisters are losing hope that their brother’s killer will be brought to justice. It has darkened their thoughts about living in Los Angeles.

“It is hard for me to think even about killing a bug,� said Patricia, 34, with whom Jose lived while he was on vacation. “And I realize there’s somebody out there who would kill a person for his socks and his wallet. How can I care about other people here anymore?�

But the sisters have vowed to continue the search for their brother’s killer, and have passed out flyers announcing the reward in the Downtown jewelry district where Ornelas was killed, as well as in Panorama City and Van Nuys.

“Right now we’re broken,� Maria said. “We are a small family of immigrants. We were four, now we are three. But we will not rest until that killer is brought off the streets.�

Anyone with information should call detectives at (213) 485-2671.