Husband Asks Help With Reward in Slayings of Wife, Daughter

A tearful Rancho Dominguez man Wednesday called on state and city officials to help raise a $60,000 reward for information in the slayings of his wife and 3-year-old daughter, who were killed by a stray bullet as they sat in their living room two weeks ago.

Standing in front of the offices of a victims’ organization called Drive By Agony, Eligio Reyes and his wife’s sister, Yolanda Cruz, pleaded for witnesses to come forward with information that might lead to an arrest and conviction in the killings.

“People are scared, and it shouldn’t be like that,” said Reyes, 27. “But we must take back our community. This could happen to you, and I don’t wish the pain that I suffer to come to anyone else.”

Reyes’ wife, Laura, 28, and their daughter Celeste were killed on May 8 in the living room of their home in east Rancho Dominguez, a residential area near Compton. The bullet passed through Celeste before striking her mother.

Shortly after the shooting, County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke said she would propose a $10,000 county reward for information in the slayings.

Cruz, 23, said more money is needed as an incentive for people who may fear gang retaliation. She sent letters to Mayor Richard Riordan, Gov. Pete Wilson and U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer asking their help in raising the reward money.

Surrounded by television cameras, Cruz challenged witnesses to put aside their fears. “You must be feeling remorse, and you must not be able to sleep at night knowing who did this.”