|
Reproduction in part or whole of this publication without written permission is strictly prohibited. We welcome any and all comments, any inaccurate information contained herein will be corrected immediately by sending us your corresponding supporting evidence in writing signed and notarized.
|
|
If we could only turn back the hands of time....................................................... Following his father's advise Esteban took it upon himself to abruptly change his lifestyle and friends starting on 12/31/02.This was Esteban's 2003 New Years resolution, at this young age death was never a thought and asking for help was never in his character...................this is the guilt a father will endure..............
Go to: A family's plead to the girlfriend-
A Parent's Worst Nightmare and a Tragedy for All
Our family settled in Garland, Texas in 1980. Location, very affordable housing, low incidence of reported violent crime and looking ahead to be part of this community's prosperity were important factors that were afforded by the city of Garland, Texas. Starting a family later we decided to settle here and make it our permanent home. As years passed we came to learn more about our new city. A melting pot of many different cultures, social economics groups, religious congregations and general differing mindsets. Writer Mike Judge brings this lifestyle to many viewers' home in his comedy Fox TV show "King of the Hill". For us, arriving from a very small moderate and conservative New England town, Sturbridge, MA, it was a wake up call as to how other people around us lived. Having previously resided in Latin America/Caribbean and in the North East our traditions were somewhat different and a sudden adjustment change was about to come. As parents of young developing children we wanted to afford them with good education, complete social participation and learning about other cultural groups and not isolating them into a closed bias society. Esteban was very popular, at an early age made numerous friends with some very nice kids from very low income families who resided in the rundown neighborhood areas of Garland where the magnate schools (Kimberlin Academy & Austin Academy) were located. This unbiased social participation was encouraged by us. But it was observed to have been greatly discouraged by Esteban's other upper social class friends' families. These new friends and differences later segregated Esteban and his family from these people. During our children early school years, we were always very satisfied with the quality educators and the degree of education that our children were receiving at the school districts' magnet schools were they attended. In time some of these educators became caring friends and part of our family. We participated in most all of their daily school and extracurricular activities. Our kid's safety at school was never an issue for concern during their early developing years. But concerns for their safety outside school in Garland soon became an issue when Esteban, at age 9, while visiting and playing with an Asian friend at the front of their home encountered a much older Anglo-American teenager with a high power pellet gun who began shooting at them. Esteban was injured and required a hospital visit to remove pellets. We suspected this was a hate crime and the Asian boy was the target. The shooting was reported but Garland police never solved this hate crime. Violent crime and gangs were never publicized to be a serious problem in the city of Garland and we never knowingly encountered it until 2003. According to recent publications and reports, researchers (1997) from the Criminal Justice Center at Sam Houston State University Garland had over 100 reported gangs in its city. Known to most residents of this area were the published facts that the local police force had a long history and stigma for being racist, racial profiling and being physically abusive to its non-Anglo citizens. Rumors about how ineffective their investigations unit were prevalent in the Garland community and among their own patrol officers; some had commented to us with such dry humor as " If you want to get away with murder just drag the body into the Garland city line". We never expected to personally encounter crime or the Garland Police as we had always made it a very important issue to keep our family distant from bad dangerous situations and always being aware of our surroundings. With our children's growing up and inevitable advancement into public high school a whole new environment and issues were waiting for them and us. Disruptive and criminal activities were found to be rampant at Esteban's high school - Naaman Forest. This high school at the time was the newest in the school district and city; and located less than a mile from our home. A large number of these kids came from the city's affluent nearby Firewheel neighborhoods. Students known to be involved in criminal activities were using the school as a place of business and for recreational criminal activity. Reported everyday bullying and fighting. Drug demand here was high by its students creating a surging market. Police incident report records later obtained indicated the Garland police were called in regularly. School officials @ Garland Independent Schools District have for many years kept the severity of these criminal problems hidden from the district's citizens and student's parents. Most of these individuals have been identified and in some cases certified as criminals/gang members by the school district and the local police. Their identities and criminal backgrounds are protected since they are juveniles under the age of (17) seventeen. Affiliations to groups and gangs become huge since independent younger students become victimized by older students and larger groups, including athletes.
Timeline-Esteban's new associates. In 2000, Esteban joined a martial arts academy (Shaolin Kung Fu) located on Floyd Rd in Richardson, TX. This group was dedicated to the advancement of Asians and its culture. At a younger age he had previously been involved in martial arts (Taekwondo) in Garland, TX were his participation was limited strictly into learning the sport. In 2001 Esteban became employed at the Canyon Creek Country Club in Richardson, TX. He worked in the Tennis shop, owned/operated by friends of the Salazar family. While working there, he met an employee and much older Asian youth who attended college at University of Texas in Dallas. It was learned later in 2003 that this person had been stealing ($20,000+) from the shop throughout the term of his employment. An information search on him later discovered he was affiliated with an Asian gang. In late 2001 Esteban quit this job at the shop. He reported that the activities at the Martial Arts Academy were consuming too much of his time as was his school work. For spending money, he later began working with/for his father going to dealer auto auctions - inspecting motor vehicles - transporting and detailing them - updating the company web site, etc.. Esteban soon after became associated with many other
Asian individuals and fellow students; some who we later learned had criminal records/gang associations.
One of them was fellow student, Paul Le. He was
introduced to Esteban in late 2000 at Naaman Forest HS. The following year
he transferred back to North Garland HS. A great number of other Asian youth became
very friendly with Esteban following his membership into this select Chinese martial arts
school's Lion Dance group. Shortly after in 2001, Esteban gave Paul Le a brand new computer
system. He had recently purchased it with money from his allowance and Canyon Creek job a few months earlier for
$1500.00. It was originally reported that this computer was for their family's
new hair salon salon business @ Friends Hair and Nail in Richardson, TX. We suspect this may have been an offering as part of his induction (show of loyalty) into this group. Later it was discovered they had owned a salon on Main St, Garland, TX. It was later learned that Esteban assisted other Asian youths in this group financially and with their academics (school work and testing). Some later went to and graduated from college. Esteban had not seen Paul in quite a while and suddenly during school Winter break of 2002 he contacted and began spending a lot of time with Le on the days prior to his mysterious disappearance. Le has a long documented list of associates with criminal records and older brothers. His mother, Binh, works F/T while his father, Minh, lives mostly a retirement lifestyle. In 2003 Garland Police Gang Unit officer identified his Garland home @ Emerson to had been under surveillance for the prior years. We suspect an unreported business is generating the main income for this family. Through our investigation we learned that an older youth, "AJ", which Esteban gave a ride to and from school daily was a major drug dealer at the school and that in 2001 had a confrontation at the school with a disgruntled adult customer who reportedly had threatened to shoot him. Records obtained indicated that Garland police and Captain Lay were involved in this incident. AJ had reported to Esteban having once ties with Asian gang members (Sam Nguyen) related to one of Esteban's other Asian friends. His girlfriend at the time was Asian. In April 2002 Esteban was introduced to an Asian girl - Huong Q. Nguyen by his Kung Fu brother, Peter KWang. Peter is a childhood friend of all these other listed Asian people which Esteban later became associated with. Esteban reported to his father that on his first date this girl asked him to "go steady with her". He added but "she told me it was OK if I dated other girls. This seemed very odd to his father, specially since Esteban is very particular of his selections and enjoyed his independence. He had kindly rejected many other very attractive and outgoing/enthusiastic young girls who had approached him before. All were more physically attractive and sociable than this new girl. The following week Huong takes Esteban to have photos taken at a glamour photo shop. Many small gifts, cards/letters and phone calls followed. In no time, Esteban's time was compromised and began to appear overwhelmed with all this attention. We suspect this initial planned arrangement was for this girl to be a a plant to monitor Esteban's behavior and loyalty to the group. In the course of this relationship the girl became very obsessed with Esteban. It was reported that after Esteban severed his relationship with her she became very distraught - crying and then angry. Her family was very disturbed by the events. This arrangement to monitor is not unusual when bringing in new members into an Asian organized crime syndicate. It has been rumored by his peers that this girl blackmailed Esteban into not breaking up with her by telling her family and brothers that he had sex with her or she would disclose his activities. This was something Esteban had avoided with this girl. This girl's early demonstrated character of innocent, respectful and shy" changed to being one of very sexually/socially active and insolence following Esteban's confirmed death. Reported boyfriends were many and race now was not a problem. She had told Esteban's parents that she would only date young Anglo men- Her new choices now included African/American, Mexicans and Asians. The once 10:00PM curfew disappeared, as she came and went as she pleased-inviting herself alone to some men gatherings; being the only female. Esteban's mother for a great while had thought Huong was a victim and was being manipulated to keep quiet by her family and associates. His father had thought differently following this girl's behavior and the events before Esteban's disappearance. He patiently waited until she was interviewed by the police and he had more evidence to confront her. She nor any member of her family was ever subjected to a polygraph examination by the Garland police. This social relationship also serves for accounting for Esteban's time while he may have been participating on other unrelated and unknown activities. The recorded incidents prior and after Esteban's disappearance show how this girl acted before and after Esteban's kidnapping. It is suspected that some of the time Esteban was expected to be socializing with Huong, he may have actually been an accomplice in some criminal enterprise. This gives reason for Esteban not to have used his cell phone for almost a year after meeting this girl. He stopped using it completely when he began dating this girl, in about April 2002, since his location and contacts could have been easily tracked and resorded. Phone records of her older sister, Thu Q. aka Alayna (2007), indicate that she was very busy during the time following Esteban's disappearance- She did not call or respond to calls on her cell phone that day-. In these precarious times when more and more young people (juveniles) are being used by organized crime to recruit and conduct their criminal activities; any and all available information regarding their known criminal backgrounds should never be covered-up and protected by Courts and city officials. It should be available for all those parents who choose to act and can take timely corrective action in the best interests of their children's and community's welfare. The City of Garland and its school district "GISD" should empower corrective change and not enable such criminals to continue in their bad ways and facilitate to the criminal contamination and loss of our youth. Children need to be in a safe learning environment and kept away from such criminal behavior and bad disruptive influences during their most confusing and busy developing years. In 2005 gangs and their crime have finally become a announced priority for the City of Garland to combat. This action has not happened by its own police initiative or intervention but with demanding action and pressure from its own citizens.
Other: To the Salazar family, the events following Esteban's abduction and murder were greatly compounded; and have been nothing less than a very terrible and never ending nightmare. A child's death it's undoubtedly every parent's worst nightmare becoming a sudden unexplained reality. We can not believe that Esteban has passed on and in such a sudden violent and tragic manner. With all the deceit, dishonesty and ineptness by these local law enforcement people our relationship with the Garland police became far from cordial. The reported recovery of the skull brought these investigators to play with our emotions and add more misery by their seemingly calculated heartless actions and statements such as: "we want you to know we handled your son's remains with respect". The precipitated early loss of this police department's integrity meant our loss of confidence and hope in finding Esteban alive. Without the police's support a lot of media coverage and assistance was lost. News shows such as America's Most Wanted and 48 hrs were cancelled. The local media were in no position to challenge the city of Garland. To add to this lonesome journey, the ironic invasion of Iraq began to fill the American news broadcasts. Nevertheless, our leaving this city without closure would be to disrespect our beloved Esteban and to ignore and disrespect our civil rights/freedom. Its now become our responsible necessity to find the truth and justice. We will continue to sacrifice ourselves at whatever the costs to reach closure. Today, our days seem to grow longer, empty and meaningless. But giving us a breath for life, hope and strength is Esteban's strong spiritual presence* manifesting itself around us every day. At one time there was always that illusion and feeling that Esteban like usual would be walking into our home with his cheerful presence and brighten up every one's life. But now we sadly have to realize that he has departed from this life and will no longer be heard, seen and felt* by any one of us. *Numerous phenomenal events have occurred following Esteban's death; some which follow events surrounding injustice and associate his death in everyone's mind. Hurricane Katrina touched down on Esteban's birthday August 29th (2005)- A twister hit New Iberia, LA on January, 4th (2007) the day Esteban disappeared- This is a city which Esteban's father traveled to following a phone tip. A Garland man who was wrongly imprisoned to 50 years sentence by the Garland police was released January 4th. (2007). January 4th. 2003 was the day of Esteban's disappearance. A young Hispanic Dallas couple was kidnapped, tortured and killed on the weekend of Jan. 4th (2007) to what is believed to have been a case where they were used as "scapegoats" in a drug and money theft. On 10/21/07 Esteban's former home in Garland burns down- the owner died in the fire. August 8, 2008- A lucky day in the Chinese culture and Opening of the 2008 Olympic games- A chartered bus with Vietnamese passengers board on 8/7/07 (Esteban's Vietnamese girlfriend's birthday) in route to a "religious gathering". The bus crashes in McKinney, TX and many are hurt and killed. It was reported that identification was challenging since most did not speak English and lacked identification. Gone but still giving- - His father's an all time Boston sport teams fan - New England Patriots won the Super Bowl in 2003 and became a powerhouse soon after. The Boston Red Sox followed. On the year (2008) the Patriots failed to win the super bowl but the Boston Celtics won the NBA championship. Valentines Day 2008 - while shopping and checking out to pay all power in this line went out. After many repeated failed attempts and apologies by the manager we were directed to anew cashier - on our return home we found an unprecedented gift ( comedy movie CD) with our groceries. We continue to experience and look at some more of these unusual events as an added remainder & incentive to continue going forward and follow Esteban's guidance in our quest for justice. These and many other unexplained phenomenal and extraordinary personal events have occurred and continue to occur - Different house lights flashing and flickering at moments when our attention is needed - computer surfing the web on its own to specific sites with information associated with his death-cursor moving on its own- etc.. We welcome and enjoy Esteban's continued presence and manner of motivation, communicating his love and presenting injustice to us.
In our sadness and grief, we continue asking ourselves, how could this colossal madness have occurred to our beloved Esteban and specially to someone in our our own backyard? There was never any apparent signs that Esteban was ever in any mortal danger. Why did Esteban keep silent and not ask for our immediate help? How could something like this may have been prevented? These are some of the many haunting questions which we will repeatedly be thinking about and asking ourselves for the rest of this challenging lifetime. As parents, among many responsibilities, it is our undivided obligation to our children for providing them a safe living environment, teach them survival skills, keep them away from danger; and to protect and watch over them at all times. Our unconditional love and support to them is never enough today. To know completely about who our children's friends and their friend's families are is most imperative. Do not be fooled by their very good mannerisms and sad stories. These cunning people are great at deception and into luring you into whatever calculated purpose they might later have in mind for their victims. Some of these individuals completely duped us. We never had the opportunity to know much about them and meet some of their families because of their cultural or social differences and reported limited language skills or maybe it was simply because they did not want us to meet them using these cultural indifferences as shields. Its obvious that most of these immigrants have suffered in this cultural adjustment and many have deep rooted hatred and jealousy for Americans. Their material economic gain is their way to express and identify themselves. The many unfounded,
unverifiable and un-collaborated rumors, after the disappearance, that Esteban
was selling drugs severed many long time friendships of Esteban and those of his family.
Friends and their families we expected to visit during and after this tragedy never came by our home again and their children
were told to keep away from us. "They did not want to be associated with
alleged criminals. Why were these outrageous rumors characterizing our
family as criminals being created and by whom? A Captain Bob Barber /
Garland police
Some very good things have come out of this terrible tragedy in that we have discovered the character of our real friends and new found friendships were created with people of great substance who have unconditionally cared and supported us. Even students whom we did not know have contacted us offering their sympathies, support and assistance in helping us find information of who is responsible for Esteban's death. Esteban touched a lot of good people with his unpretentious caring, sincerity, concern and good mannerisms. The family's struggle for seeking urgent police assistance, to later be kept informed on the investigation and to learn truthful facts about Esteban's death from the Garland Police has been devastating for all of us. Our initial pleas for immediate help went ignored and it became a preview of the longstanding pain and suffering which we were going to maliciously inflicted on our family. The police behavior toward the family was very condescending and intimidating; specially toward Esteban's mother. At times they would smirk between themselves as they withheld information and gave out misinformation to all Salazar family members. Most of the first hand information of facts we supplied to the Garland police went ignored or became misconstrued and twisted by them to be something else which was never stated. It became part of the record that is now sealed. The "blocked phone call" Esteban answered before he disappeared the police ignored to immediately search for the caller's identity. Records indicated they waited four (4) months to begin this investigation. When we asked for general information on the case we were misinformed and told lies or not told anything at all. Originally, a complete
false scenario which victimized Esteban's sister and father was
fabricated to close the "homicide case" and we have been forced to accept it. Our good standing character
was criminalized. All efforts were made by the police to divide and impair our
family. Esteban's mother and sister were intimidated and told lies about Esteban's father.
A great loss ("the good die young")- Who was Esteban and what was he like?? Esteban was a very modest, sincere, thoughtful, happy, enthusiastic, caring, affectionate and very special young man who enjoyed to spend time and bring joy to his family. Esteban earned our admiration and respect at an early age; he could be trusted and was always very dependable, respectful, organized and responsible. Esteban always had respect for others and for himself. He was very self sufficient and worked part time at Canyon Creek Country Club and later for his father. Additional and other income was awarded to him by his parents for his extraordinary school work. He chose not to stay out late at night and always kept us informed of his whereabouts. A curfew for him never seemed to be necessary. He took pride in his academics and was very comfortable and specially enthusiastic about his new teachers and curriculums in his Junior (2003) year at Naaman Forest High School. A new love for literature was developed and he was less engaging in interactive video games. He dedicated a lot of his pass time into learning Kung Fu/martial arts and being part of the yearly traditional Chinese New Year celebrations and "Lion Dance" performances. Esteban found lots of pleasure in bringing happiness to his Family and Friends in every way possible. He was sensitive and caring and would go out of his way to help his family and others. He would always put himself last. When he saw that you were "feeling down" he would do his very best to "cheer you up". He was always willing to help anyone in any way possible. "No" never became part of his vocabulary. He avoided and never solicited attention. Nevertheless, he stood out from the crowd with his big smile, wittiness, good looks, tall stature and intelligence. He was very charming and funny. Esteban found excitement experiencing and learning new things. He was a very good listener and role model; his compassion, tolerance, patience and humbleness taught us to become better people. Some of the leisure activities Esteban enjoyed included: weight training, mountain biking, martial arts, mixing and listening to music, DJ-ing, sketching, skiing and snowboarding in Colorado, surfing, hiking and whitewater rafting in Costa Rica, building computers, traveling and eating "good and healthy" food. His Aunt Ginny's cooking was his favorite; he always looked forward for her invitation to dinner. Esteban was on schedule to graduating early from high school, planned on taking some time off and then attending college. He maintained an academic honors student level, transcending from his younger years while attending the city's magnate schools and recorded an all A's average during his last semester of high school at Naaman Forest High School. Esteban had chosen various colleges as his favorites to apply and attend; among them were: The United States Coast Guard Academy in Groton, Connecticut, Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX , University of California in Los Angeles, CA and Austin College in Sherman, TX. He was prepared and looking forward to taking the college board examinations just days before his disappearance. Records indicated that the day before his disappearance he spent some time reviewing. During his last Christmas vacation of 2002 he enjoyed very much his time spent in Colorado with his cousins and friends. He snowboarded daily until exhaustion. In his idle time he read. On his return, he talked about his trip and looked forward to spending another Christmas with his family in Colorado. Esteban became an enigma to most of his peers, he had a Hispanic last name but no one could figure out his true ethnicity because he did not fit the appearance of the stereotype Hispanic/Mexican person. Esteban's mother is Anglo-American/English/American Indian and his father Latin/European/Anglo American. Most locals thought that since he had a Hispanic last name he was just another Mexican. And so did the Garland Police as they speculated early in their investigation that he had changed his identity and gone across the border to Mexico. This would have certainly amazed and surprised Esteban since he did not speak Spanish or had family members or friends residing in Mexico.
More pain and suffering comes to the family. Esteban's grandfather "Pop Pop" unprecedented death- Following Esteban's official death announcement Esteban's grandfather health suddenly deteriorated. In late 2003 he died. A one time police homicide detective in Florida, he became very dissatisfied and ashamed at the way his law enforcement colleagues in Garland, TX handled Esteban's abduction and homicide case and mistreated the family. Esteban's beloved dog "Sunshine"- Days following Esteban's disappearance, the family's white Labrador retriever "Sunshine" found herself very uneasy and frequently visited inside Esteban's bedroom. This was very unusual behavior for Sunshine to go alone into Esteban's empty bedroom. One particular day, Sunshine a very active and animated dog, laid at the foot of Esteban's bed and would not stand up. After unsuccessfully trying to help her get up, the family rushed and carried her to the Veterinarian. The Veterinarian could not find anything physically wrong with her. We suspect this was the time Esteban was murdered. Sunshine eventually died in 2005. His sister "Nina"- Esteban's older sister Nina already devastated with his younger brother's abduction/murder became a victim for calculated inflicted pain and suffering by the Garland police investigators who reported to her their false child abuse claims of her brother by their father. The police later used her name to fabricate more primary evidence with statements which she never made. These police investigators repeatedly reported to her that her brother, Esteban, had been abused by his father. Already suffering from debilitating mental health, they created great confusion and hate toward her father. The police tried to coerce damaging statements from her against her father. In 2003 she separated from her family and moved to Houston, Texas. After learning that her statements had been misconstrued by the police and that Esteban's homicide case closed using false information Nina suffered a complete nervous breakdown while living alone. In her desperation, she started abusing alcohol and drugs. Affidavits to correct these wrongdoings were sent to the police and ignored. They were also sent to other law enforcement agencies ( FBI, Dallas County Distinct Attorney, US Department of Justice and the DC Medical Examiner) who the Garland police had previously misinformed and lied to. Some of the fabrications have been posted on this web site. In early 2005 Nina was hospitalized with severe depression, paranoia, psychosis and anxiety. Nina continues receiving very aggressive mental health care. Her prognosis is unknown at this moment. In addition to of all the other mentioned health/mental problems she has been fighting addiction. The family has spent hundred of thousands of dollars in her treatment to date; the state of Texas has refused to assist. It was learned in 2007 that prior to Esteban's disappearance that Nina had changed jobs and relocated- she had stated that Esteban had warned her of being in immediate danger. She relocated on the weekend that Esteban disappeared. In November 2006 following an interview with D Magazine, Garland police spokesperson Joe Harn stated that there was nothing in their case files which pointed to any child abuse in the Salazar home. This is contrary to what they had reported earlier (2003) to the Medical Examiner and rumored to the Media as their primary circumstantial evidence. Once again in 2006, new motives for Esteban's "suicide" death began to be fabricated by the Garland police. Esteban's mother- Two weeks prior to Xmas 2006 Esteban's mother suffered a stroke. The City of Garland has continued their wrongful behavior, abuse of official powers and violation of civil rights against the Salazar family affecting the family's well-being. All complaints against the police Investigators that were sent have been ignored. Esteban's mother health has continued to deteriorate as she works to find closure and tend to her very ill daughter. Through the early part of our investigation, unknown individuals were contacting the Salazar family representing themselves to be connected to different local cities - national educational foundations - educational groups - all wishing to use Esteban's name in developing unique educational schools. We suspect some of these individuals were politically connected to the leadership of the city of Garland who were trying to derail our investigation and interests.
(2003) Dear Huong, Your many letters to Esteban have repeatedly expressed your deep profound love for him. Included those you wrote to him after he disappeared. Do the right thing for Esteban, yourself and our family. Follow your heart and conscience. Esteban is tormented seeing the undue suffering being caused to his parents and family while they continue to look for closure. We realize that you may carry a heavy burden, but telling the truth of what happened to Esteban will help free your conscience and burden and bring Esteban's soul some peace. Today, our journey of life is very limited here on this Earth but will be limitless in our eternal future life. Show Esteban your true love. He will forgive and welcome you in the future. We will always be here for you should you need our help and support. No Reply was received. (2006) Dear Huong, We always suspected that something related to the company Esteban was keeping troubled him lots during the week preceding his disappearance. We did not know the seriousness of the matter as you obviously indicated. The fact that he would not share the whole truth with his father and evidently cried as he spoke with you about it on the night of 12/28/02. Later he brought up the same subject before you and his father on the afternoon of 12/29/02 clearly indicated to us then that you were involved or at the very least had knowledge and were aware. It was clearly this problem was not something about a normal girl and boy relationship! All the records and your statements given by you and also a matter of record never collaborated. After Esteban disappeared on 1/4/03 we waited for your help or at least hear the truth. It never came. Just more deception. We have given you all this time to come forward with the truth. Your interest for closely following this case was more for your own protection? The pain you have caused our family has been immense. Why? Are you protecting yourself or a loved one? We would certainly not expect to hear from you if you were involved in his murder. No Reply was received.
Beth and Bill Salazar
To date all our pleas have been ignored by the girlfriend.
powered by love
|