Santos case still active

Family and friends of a Burbank woman who disappeared last August and

was later found murdered will gather Saturday for a memorial in her

honor.

Burbank Police, meanwhile, continue their investigation into the

death of Sharon Anne Santos and have not ruled out a maintenance man

from Santos’s apartment building as a person of interest in the case.

Santos, 30, had gone missing after returning to her apartment on

Scott Road on Aug. 17, 2004, from her job as a financial analyst with

Warner Bros. Entertainment. On Sept. 2, 2004, two weeks after friends

and family gathered in a vigil outside Santos’ apartment building to

pray for her return, her body was found in the trunk of her car

parked on a side street in Chinatown.

With one year having passed since Santos’ disappearance and death,

recollections of the tragedy have come flooding back, making it a

difficult time for her mother Edna, sister Sandra and many friends.

Still, solving the case is not far from their minds as well.

“No crime can be perfect,” said Nina Haynes, a close friend of

Santos. “Somebody had to have seen something. We are still holding

out there will be a break. The police are still confident that will

happen.”

A private memorial will take place Saturday in Rowland Hills.

Family and friends will gather for a Mass at a Roman Catholic church

and a visit to the cemetery where Santos is buried.

For Haynes, July 30 had significance in that it was the date she

had last spoken with Santos, Haynes said.

“It was hard trying to recall the last things we said to each

other,” Haynes said. “A year later, it is still hard, knowing this

horrible thing did happen.

“But we are a lot closer as a family and as friends. If there was

any good that came of this, that was it.”

Investigators received their most significant break in the case in

February, with the arrest of Eriberto Rodriguez, the maintenance man

in the Scott Road apartment building where Santos lived.

Rodriguez, 43, faces multiple criminal charges, including 13

counts of theft or burglary, many of them allegedly committed at the

apartment building where he worked. Among the allegedly stolen items

recovered from Rodriguez was a ring belonging to Santos, police said.

Rodriguez -- who is being held in the Los Angeles County Jail on

$500,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court again Sept. 20 --

is still a person of interest to detectives on the case.

“He has not been eliminated, and he’s not the suspect,” Burbank

Police Lt. Dave Gabriel said.

In the days following Santos’s disappearance, investigators

questioned neighbors, co-workers, friends and acquaintances to

determine where she might have gone. The disappearance was much

publicized by the department, because it was so out of character for

Santos.

With Rodriguez in custody facing other charges, police have the

advantage of taking their time to continue the investigation into

whether he might have involved with Santos’ death, Gabriel said.

“I don’t blame people for wanting an answer, especially for the

family’s sake,” Gabriel said. “They have supported us, so we want to

be careful that what we do works for everyone.”

The city of Burbank, Warner Bros. and the Los Angeles County Board

of Supervisors have combined to offer a $50,000 reward for

information leading to the arrest and conviction of a suspect or

suspects in Santos’ death.