Fresno man’s family wants answers in ’95 homicide. Here’s what police say about cold case
It has been 26 years since Julio Orosco Esqueda III was killed at a house party full of people, and the crime remains unsolved as the anniversary of his death passed again this week.
Esqueda’s mother, Evelyn Stankewitz, waited 25 years to look the killer in the eye, but she never got to do that before dying last year, according to Susan Saldana, Stankewitz’s daughter and Esqueda’s sister.
Her mother’s declining health last year meant the family wasn’t able to bring attention to Esqueda like they hoped, Saldana said.
“We didn’t do anything for his 25th (anniversary) because she was in hospice,” Saldana said. “My mom was not able to get that justice before she passed away. She waited 25 years. Now that she’s gone, I got to pursue some kind of justice.”
Esqueda was 20 years old on the night of Sept. 23, 1995, when he attended a house party near Olive and Willow avenues. It was the 18th birthday of a man dating Saldana at the time.
“He got into an argument. The argument went from the backyard to the front yard,” she said. “One guy walked up and shot him at point-blank range.”
Saldana said there were some 50 people at the party, including relatives and friends, and many saw the shooting of her brother, who most people called “Jay.” Investigators said Esqueda was struck in the heart.
No one has ever been arrested in his death.
In late 1995, Stankewitz told the Bee she was not looking for retribution, she wanted to face her son’s killer. She died last year at 80.
“I don’t want revenge, I want justice,” she said in 1995. “What I really want to do is look into the killer’s eyes and ask him why he shot my son.”
The investigation
Lt. Bill Dooley said personnel at Fresno Police Department looks much different than it did in 1995, and most, if not all, of the detectives from back then have retired.
Police in 1995 said there were witnesses but nobody came forward to name the shooter. Investigators at the time said at least two guns were fired, and possibly three.
Saldana, who was at the party, said she cooperated with police and she knows people who were there who were never questioned by officers.
“It was not very good police work,” she said.
Asked about Saldana’s accusation of poor police work related to the investigation, Dooley said none of the homicide detectives from 1995 are still in the unit.
“We have no comment on the family’s statement as we simply have no one to reference,” he said. “With that said, the Fresno Police Department has always done it’s best to thoroughly investigate crimes.”
Dooley said the department could not immediately say how many of the Fresno Police Department’s cold cases remain open.
The victim
Esqueda was one of 13 siblings, Saldana said. “He was favored by everyone,” she said. “We looked up to him as an older brother, and (older siblings) babied him.”
He was never in trouble with the law, according to court records and Bee archives, and was named most valuable offensive player on a McLane High junior varsity football team, according to a plaque the family has.
But he didn’t play sports later in high school after being involved in a serious crash in July 1992 as he and friends drove Highway 152 on the way back from Monterey. He and five others were injured, and two teenagers died, after the car went off the road and rolled west of Los Banos.
That injury also led him to leave McLane before graduation, but he finished high school and was working as a house painter before he was killed. Saldana said Esqueda had two sons, Mickey and Mason, and was three weeks away from having a third son, Julio, when he was killed.
“He loved his boys. He was just one of those dads,” she said. “He just adored his sons.”
After nearly three decades without answers, Saldana said she still hopes there can be movement in the investigation.
“I’m heavily involved in church, I have been for 12 years,” she said. “The place I’ve come to is he’ll have to answer for it someday.”
This story was originally published September 24, 2021 at 11:31 AM.
