Third Victim of LAPD Copter Crash Identified

When the father of her children didn’t come home one night two weeks ago, Cecilia Rugamas did not panic. It had happened before.

She had been with Lino Falguero for more than 11 years. They came to Los Angeles from El Salvador together, and had two children. Falguero sometimes would disappear for several days, but would always return.

That is what Rugamas and her sister told coroner’s Investigator Nick Romero to explain why they waited a week to file a missing person’s report. They did not want to believe that Falguero might be the unknown man on the ground who was killed when a police helicopter crashed within 100 yards of their home June 13.

Coroner’s investigators said Thursday they had confirmed that Lino Daniel Falguero, a 36-year-old furniture salesman, was the third victim of the helicopter crash at Vernon and Raymond avenues that also killed veteran Police Officers Gary Howe, 41, and Charles (Randy) Champe, 46.

For two weeks, Falguero had been known as “John Doe No. 121.” The body was so badly burned that only a “barely legible” set of fingerprints could be obtained, investigators said. An initial computer comparison of the fingerprints with records held by various agencies proved unsuccessful.

Then Rugamas filed the missing person’s report at the Police Department’s 77th Street station. The description--height, weight, a slight gap between the two front teeth--matched.

Further investigation showed that Falguero had been arrested by the California Highway Patrol on a misdemeanor charge in 1987. With assistance from the Police Department, the coroner’s office was able to obtain a “more legible” set of prints, which matched the victim’s.

Falguero is survived by Rugamas, an 11-year-old son and a 2-year-old daughter.