Gilroy
– A San Jose educator will bury two unidentified men who were
killed in Gilroy more than seven years ago.
”
John Doe #1
”
and
”
John Doe #2
”
are the only names given to the victims in Gilroy’s most
prominent cold case, but Esperanza Zendejas, Superintendent of the
East Side Union High School District, is taking their remains to
Mexico this weekend to be buried in her family’s plot.
By Lori Stuenkel
Gilroy – A San Jose educator will bury two unidentified men who were killed in Gilroy more than seven years ago.
“John Doe #1” and “John Doe #2” are the only names given to the victims in Gilroy’s most prominent cold case, but Esperanza Zendejas, Superintendent of the East Side Union High School District, is taking their remains to Mexico this weekend to be buried in her family’s plot.
Zendejas, who was born in Michoacán, Mexico, according to the ESUHSD Web site, told television news programs that she wanted to give the remains a proper burial because their story echoed that of her father.
A San Diego dental expert studied the skulls of the two men found in July 1997 outside Gilroy’s sewage treatment plant and determined they were Hispanic.
Zendejas’ father brought his wife and five of their children to California in the early 1960s and worked as a migrant field laborer. Zendejas was in Mexico Friday and could not be reached.
A human resources manager for the district said she planned to bury the remains today. Zendejas received some assistance from a San Jose mortuary – which prepared the bodies for burial – and the Mexican Consulate in San Jose, among others.
Zendejas obtained the remains – which were still being kept at the Santa Clara County Coroner’s Office – through a court order, since no family members have been found.
“I’ve been to Washington, D.C., this has been on America’s Most Wanted,” said Gilroy police Officer Stan Devlin, who handled the case when the bodies were found. “We’ve done some DNA tests on people who were missing family members and thought this might be them, but those have all been negative.”
A worker at the sewage plant found the remains of both men: A decomposed torso in a water junction box on July 16, 1997; another badly decomposed body from the same place on July 31 that had a plastic bag tied over its head; and a human skull in a nearby percolation pond on Sept. 17, which is believed to be from the first victim.
Gilroy police detectives have said they are hesitant about allowing the bodies to be buried in a place to which the homicide victims do not necessarily have ties.
“What do I say if someone comes in and says, ‘This is my son’?” Devlin said. The family would then incur the inconvenience and potential cost of bringing the bodies back.
Zendejas’ district has been in turmoil since more than 900 pink slips were handed out last month, although more than half of those who received them are no longer fearing for their jobs. Zendejas took over as head of the district, which is facing a budget deficit of up to $10 million next school year, two years ago.
