Finality, perhaps closure

◼ Curtis Huntzinger's mother wins wrongful death lawsuit
Not that anything can compensate for what he did. But a good thing nonetheless.

Huntzinger's mom files civil suit

◼ ...the suit also lists 20 John Does as defendants...
Update:
◼ Curtis Huntzinger's mother wins wrongful death lawsuit

TS series on Huntzinger case

◼ 'The persistence of a mother': The Huntzinger family's fight to find Curtis, and the toll it took
◼ Curtis Huntzinger: A portrait of a boy
◼ A long, winding road: A look at law enforcement's efforts to find Curtis
◼ A timeline of the Curtis Huntzinger case
◼ Moving a mountain: The Humboldt County DA's Office brings Curtis home
◼
Huntzinger case: A team effort

Humboldt County District Attorney's Office Investigator Wayne Cox will be getting a national award today for his work solving the Curtis Huntzinger case, but in his mind, something isn't right.
”I couldn't have done it alone, and I wish the award from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children had all of our names on it,” Cox said. “There wasn't a single person on our team who didn't invest a lot of time into this.”

If You Go:
What: A public memorial and potluck dinner for Curtis Anthony Huntzinger
When: 4 p.m. May 19, 2009
Where: Blue Lake Elementary School, 111 Greenwood
For more info: Call 668-1993
On the web:
Visit www.Times-Standard.com and click on the story logo to view a photographic slideshow, a timeline of the case's major events, and past stories surrounding Curtis Huntzinger's disappearance.

Related posts and accompanying articles:

◼ A good job, Paul post...cautiously.

☛ TS Sebastopol man arrested in Huntzinger cold case

◼ Hash pleads guilty to manslaughter

☛ TS Hash pleads guilty to manslaughter
☛ sfgate Man arrested 18 years after teen disappeared
☛ Porchlight International for the Missing & Unidentified
☛ TS Never too late for resolution
☛ TS editorial Never too late for resolution
☛TS Hash receives 11 years in prison

◼ Closure

☛ Missing teen's remains found after 18 years

◼ On the surface

☛ Hash receives 11 years in prison

◼ Curtis Huntzinger's mother wins wrongful death lawsuit

On the surface

it appears reasonable, presented as a coup and a win.
☛TS Hash receives 11 years in prison (Well, 5 1/2, if that)

Steven Daniel Hash pleaded guilty on Friday to manslaughter in the death of Curtis Huntzinger, a 14-year-old Blue Lake boy killed in 1990.

As members of Huntzinger's family watched, Assistant District Attorney Wes Keat read the terms of the plea agreement, which stipulated Hash will serve 11 years in prison, and pay a total of more than $9,000 in restitution fines.

Following the reading, Hash wiped tears from his eyes and spoke directly to Nancy Huntzinger, Curtis' mother.

”I'm so terribly sorry,” he said. “For years, I've asked God, 'How come I'm walking around in the free world?'

”I know what I've done. I took everything Curtis had ... I took it all and it's real hard to deal with that. I've been dealing with that for years.”

Hash then thanked District Attorney Chief Investigator Mike Hislop and investigator Wayne Cox for their “thorough and competent investigation.”

Hash was granted 45 days credit for time served. By California statute, Hash will be eligible for parole 51/2 years after his sentence begins....

Wes Keat speaks where the District Attorney should be speaking, a sign that something is wrong. If this was a win, Gallegos would have been all over it.

According to Keat, after his arrest, Hash was willing to fully cooperate with investigators, and had explained to them all the events that led up to the killing. Based on his admission, and the available evidence, the charge of manslaughter was appropriate given the circumstances of the killing, Keat said.

In May of 1990, during a sudden quarrel at Hash's home, Hash struck Curtis Huntzinger in the head with a dumbbell, killing him, Keat said.

”In the instant afterward, he was sorry it happened,” Keat said. “It was classic manslaughter.”

Manslaughter. Not murder. Because he was sorry in the instant after it happened.

So now, Hash was granted 45 days credit for time served. By California statute, Hash will be eligible for parole 51/2 years after his sentence begins.

And though The crime of voluntary manslaughter carries statute of limitations of six years, meaning the statute of limitations expired 13 years ago. Nevertheless, Hash was able to plead to the felony as part of the agreement.

It's another deal, and this time, though Gallegos can claim the family signed off on the deal, it is apparent that they are not happy about it.

During the Friday hearing, Nancy Huntzinger also gave a brief statement thanking Hash for leading investigators to her son's grave.

After Hash had left the courtroom to be returned to his cell, Nancy Huntzinger said she was ambivalent about Hash's agreement, and was simply happy to have her son's body returned to her.

”I told (DA investigators) when we got Curtis back, he (Hash) could get time served,” Nancy Huntzinger said.

Since Curtis Huntzinger's body was found in a shallow grave under a stand of young redwoods, between Blue Lake and Korbel, officials have used the word “closure” to describe the conclusion of the 18-year long search for his body.

But for some members of the Huntzinger family -- the other victims involved in the killing -- the word is hardly descriptive.

”Closure? I mean, that's like it's the end,” Nancy Huntzinger said. “It will never be the end. I will never forget Curtis. I will remember him as long as I can breathe his name.”

That's the article. But there's more in the comments. And though I am no fan of the comments section of any local publications, I have to say, the story that unfolds there is a must read. Family members and friends weigh in. Better read 'em before they get pulled down.

CJ Saint Claire - "In the instant afterward, he was sorry it happened..." so Mr Hash casually cruises through the expiration of the statue of limitations, and after 18 years of anguish, mom says "time served is OK" - I cannot imagine the pain and, quite possibly, the liberation of from such awful torment.

...and for Hash - Here is a case where just being sorry just is not good enough, you just got handed a pass on this one.

Someone needs to take this incident to the star chamber.

Case closed, finally. Sadly. Welcome home Curtis."
***
whodem dat slewdem - "11 years is a very short sentence considering that at most he will do 80% of that time and could do as little as five years. eligible for parole in 5.5 years really means eligible in 3 years. I am sure that the family is more concerned with closure than this mans sentence and they are relieved that they found the remains. Hash got a pass."
***
Blue Lake Cousin - Mr. Gallegos; you and your staff should be ashamed of yourselves and your pathetic attempts to bring justice for Curtis. Steve Hash is a child molestor and murderer; he tormented my family for years with the knowledge of what he did to Curtis, and you want us to believe that he was sorry for his actions and that this was a "classic case of manslaughter?" Since you've already thrown Curtis under the bus, what about the other children of Humboldt County that came into contact with Steve Hash and his sick cronies! I hope this isn't the end of the investigation; you owe it to the people of this county to carry this investigation forward and make sure that other children get the justice that they deserve. If this case is allowed to drop, the people of this county need to vote you out of office; you are a failure to the people of this county and the justice system that is supposed to protect us."
***
Cherri - would like to know if the people of Humboldt County are satisfied with their justice system. Please correct me if I am wrong, but as I understand it....in Humboldt County you can molest a child of 14, you can murder this child and bury his body in the woods somewhere. The trick is to keep somewhat quiet about if for just long enough. Then after say 19 years of being free to do what you want, raise your own son maybe, make sure he can take over your possession and your affairs are in order, you can decide to confess on your own terms. You then get a speedy court date, and nice slap on the hand of an 11 year sentence, where you know you'll probably be home in a little over five years. Am I right about all this? Can a criminal living in Humboldt County do these things and get away with it? Tell me I am wrong. Tell me there is a justice system in place that would never allow such horrible disgusting crimes against our children to go unpunished. If you take a life, is it really swept under the rug if you keep quiet long enough? My name is Cherri Hairston and Curtis Anthony Huntzinger was my brother. Steve Hash molested him. Steve Hash is a child molester! Steve has picked up a dumbell and hit my brother so hard in the head that it killed him. I hope my brother didn't suffer long. I hope he died long before Steve begun to cover up his crime by burying him in the woods. Then Steve Hash kept somewhat quiet for 19 years. For 19 years he knew what he had done and where my brother was. He lived his life. He saw his own son grow up and he did nothing to ease my family's pain.I expect the D.A. is pretty happy with himself for closing a 19 year old case. But this is not justice. This is not justice. The crime of murder and child molestation was commited and the man who confessed to it may walk the streets of Humboldt County as soon as 2014. Is this what passes for justice in Humboldt County? I wonder if we would have taken justice into our own hands back in 1990 what justice would have been? If it would have meant that we would be walking free after so little years, less than the 19 my family spent being tortured, I would have surely done it. We tell ourselves not to take justice into our own hands, that the truth would come forth someday and Steve would pay. I think we were wrong. Steve got away with molesting, murdering and burying my brother. He dropped a brick in the water that is our family and we are still in its wake. He got away with 19 years of torturing all who loved Curtis. He got away with it all."
***
blue lake mom - "cherri you have been through to much. Your mother will have good reason for great joy, I believed chuck pierce when he said that God would have justice for her. I hope that steve hash's fate, finially frees you and your mother of the scares he has caused.
P.S
Mr.Paul Gallagoes, I think the motherly vote in Blue Lake just went south on you. TY. I hope every mother in Humboldt county remembers Curtis and his mother nancy and his sister cherri Huntzinger on election day..."
***
anonymous - "I know of someone who had "I support Gallegos" signs all over his yard. He's a convicted felon and not even allowed to vote in the first place.

Why do you think he wanted Gallegos in office? Again.

He's a felon, not in jail, and runs around this community making people think he is an upstanding great, and trustworthy guy.
Look very carefully into who you do business with.

If they are licensed in any way, you can get that information online or by calling the department they are licensed to do business through.

There are creeps on every corner who laugh at having "beat" the system and know exactly how to go about it."
***
really now - "I voted for Gallegos so correct me if I'm wrong,please: Gallegos assured us he'd protect community and families. He'd go after hard drugs and violence. This was the reasoning to go easy on small marijuana cases. The gate was opened for hundreds to move here and cultivate with NO threat of prosecution. Then the large growers were allowed to slide. Then the really large commercial growers were given passes. Now the child molesters and child murderers are able to plea out? AND the DA's office speaks like it's a victory? I'm outraged and would like to hear a reasonable explanation from Paul himself. This WILL be an election issue. This plea is an insult to our county and a disgrace to past Gallegos supporters."
***

There's more. And your heart goes out to this family who has suffered the worst imaginable horror, with years of pain, that even with closure will not heal.

In and of itself, it might be fine, on the surface. But add to that the bizarre plea deal with Kesser and others that are documented on this blog. The schizophrenic nature of Gallegos' prosecutions go on. And he should have the courage to stand up and act, as a DA should, as the spokesperson for the office, even when it is not comfortable. Stop sending Keat to do the dirty work.

It's worth noting - and it is noted in those comments - "I imagine there was a plea deal in exchange for locating the body. It's a hefty price, but it needed to be done. Although everybody knows Gallegos is weak! Look at Siskiyou County they are gonna fry people for the same exact thing." That would be ☛TS the Cook case.

Closure

☛ TS Huntzinger's body found
An Arcata High School student, the 14-year-old Huntzinger went missing May 19, 1990, after last being seen at his sister's home. Last week, the DA's Office arrested Stephen Daniel Hash, 53, of Sebastopol, on suspicion of voluntary manslaughter after Hash gave a complete confession, according to District Attorney Paul Gallegos...

...The DA's Office said Hash has been very cooperative with the investigation, even leading investigators to the location where he said he buried Huntzinger.
***
On Monday afternoon, around 2 p.m., the boy's skeleton was located, entangled in a ball of roots under less than two feet of soil. The grave, which was dug about 35 yards from the road, was surrounded by a dense stand of young redwoods, and blanketed by a thick mat of leaf litter and poison oak.

But in 1990, when Huntzinger is presumed to have been buried, that grave site looked very different.

Chief DA Investigator Mike Hislop said when Hash allegedly dumped the body, the area looked like a “moonscape,” as a result of heavy logging and burning activity.

Despite those major changes to the landscape, Hash was reportedly able to recall the location of the grave well enough to lead investigators within 25 feet of where the body was found, said DA investigator Wayne Cox.

”It must be a vivid memory that's permanently imbedded in his (Hash's) hard drive,” he said.

The same tract of land was searched in 1999 by teams using cadaver dogs, but authorities came up empty. This time, Cox said investigators deployed new methods.

According to Hislop, the body was found by a volunteer who canvassed the area using a high-end metal detector loaned by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The grave was located when the metal detector picked up a faint signal from a small piece of metal on Huntzinger's remains -- possibly a zipper or a coin.

Members of the Huntzinger family were immediately notified, and brought to the site before the body was exhumed, said District Attorney Paul Gallegos.

As the redwoods grew back after the logging, they lifted nutrients from Huntzinger's grave, entwining the remains in roots.

According to Deputy Coroner Roy Horton, the search team excavated the approximately 400-pound root ball, which contains Huntzinger's remains.

Now the Coroner's Office is tasked with the painstaking removal of those remains from the root encasement.

Horton said that while they have not been able to positively identify the remains through DNA or dental records, there are other signs it is Huntzinger. The clothing found around the skeleton -- a black jacket and tennis shoes -- are consistent with the outfit Huntzinger was last seen wearing. And there appear to be signs of blunt force trauma to the skull, Horton said.

Although Gallegos and the DA investigators have declined to release the cause of Huntzinger's death, a criminal complaint in Hash's court file charges him with using a barbell to kill the 14-year-old.

The body was found unbound, and Horton said he believes Huntzinger was dead before he was buried.

☛ TS Never too late for resolution

☛ TS editorial Never too late for resolution
☛TS Hash receives 11 years in prison
◼ Curtis Huntzinger's mother wins wrongful death lawsuit

Hash pleads guilty to manslaughter

Nancy Huntzinger sat with her family in a Humboldt County courtroom on Friday, and watched as Stephen Daniel Hash, wearing shackles and an orange jail jumpsuit, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of her teenage son 18 years ago.

Judge Bruce Watson declined the plea, and advised Hash to speak with an attorney to discuss the ramifications of such an admission. The court then entered a plea of not guilty on Hash's behalf.

That move was anticipated by prosecuting Assistant District Attorney Wes Keat, who said it is typical for a judge to direct a defendant to speak with counsel before issuing a plea in a manslaughter case.

”It's a reasonable step and it's what I expected,” Keat said. “That doesn't mean it's going to be the result.”

Hash will wait in the Humboldt County jail for his next court appearance, scheduled for Dec. 10.

District Attorney Paul Gallegos said after the 53-year-old Hash was arrested Wednesday, he has been completely cooperative with investigators and has “expressed a great deal of remorse” for the murder of 14-year-old Curtis Huntzinger, who disappeared in May 1990.

His “absolute” cooperation is what led the District Attorney's Office to charge Hash with voluntary manslaughter with a deadly weapon, rather than murder, Gallegos said....

...Wayne Cox, an investigator for the DA's Office, said as years went by he saw interest in Curtis Huntzinger's disappearance taper off. About two years ago, he decided to take on the case.

”This case could have been solved a long time ago -- it simply wasn't,” Gallegos said. “There were leads that were not followed up that we merely followed up with.”

Hash's admission has brought some amount of closure to the Huntzinger family, Gallegos said.
The family, including Nancy Huntzinger and Curtis Huntzinger's sister, Sarah, attended the Friday arraignment.

Nancy Huntzinger said it is still too early to comment on her feelings about Hash's confession, but she looks forward to the outcome.

”I'm on pins and needles right now,” she said. “It's gone on too long.”...
☛ TS Hash pleads guilty to manslaughter
☛ sfgate Man arrested 18 years after teen disappeared
☛ Porchlight International for the Missing & Unidentified

☛ TS Never too late for resolution
☛ TS editorial Never too late for resolution
☛TS Hash receives 11 years in prison
◼ Curtis Huntzinger's mother wins wrongful death lawsuit

A good job, Paul post...cautiously. - UPDATED

UPDATED:

◼ Former Blue Lake Police Chief David Gundersen has been cleared of all major charges first filed against him in 2008. - Arcata Eye MARCH 2012

****


☛ TS Sebastopol man arrested in Huntzinger cold case
Eighteen years after 14-year-old Blue Lake resident Curtis Huntzinger went missing, an arrest has been made in connection with his death.

The Humboldt County District Attorney's Office arrested former Blue Lake resident Stephen Daniel Hash, 53, Wednesday on suspicion of voluntary manslaughter. Hash was reportedly living in Sebastopol.

”Mr. Hash gave us a complete confession,” District Attorney Paul Gallegos said Thursday night. “He's been very cooperative and very helpful, and we're very grateful to him for doing that.”

...Nine years after the teen went missing, a San Quentin State Prison inmate, Thomas Michael Fox, claimed he'd shot and killed the boy at Hash's home in 1990. Blue Lake police at the time said they believed that Fox's other murder victim, Daniel Williams, may have been used in a child pornography ring.

Officials searched Hash's home after Fox's statements, reportedly even pulling up the floor and sending carpets to the Department of Justice for forensic testing, but made no arrests.

At one point, Nancy Huntzinger reportedly told authorities that she had confronted Hash at his home, and that he had confessed to murdering her son, telling her where the boy's body was buried. But, search teams and cadaver dogs reportedly came up empty, and Hash was never charged in the case.

Gallegos said his office took over the cold case after the Blue Lake Police Department was disbanded in May, following the arrest of then Police Chief David Gundersen.

”It was an old case that we felt hadn't been adequately investigated,” Gallegos said.

DA Investigator Wayne Cox took the lead in the investigation, Gallegos said, and turned up some leads a couple of months ago, before the investigation really gained steam in November.

”What it really was was just dogged detective work,” Gallegos said. “It's a combination of the hard work of (DA Chief Investigator Mike Hislop) and (Cox), and the good work of (Assistant District Attorney Wes Keat), but it was also (Hash's) desire to get this off his chest. Personally, I think he's wanted to get this off his chest for a long time.”

When approached by investigators with new evidence in the case, Gallegos said Hash “decided to unburden himself.”

Curtis Huntzinger's body has yet to be recovered, Gallegos said, but the DA's Office has several leads as to its location and remains hopeful it will be discovered in the coming days.

”I'm hoping that with (Hash's) cooperation, we will be able to locate Curtis Huntzinger's body, and we will be able to put this to rest,” Gallegos said. “I know Nancy Huntzinger has wanted her son's body for a long time, and I'm hopeful we can provide her some solace in that.”

Gallegos said Hash's cooperation is part of the reason he was arrested on suspicion of voluntary manslaughter.

”What we've chosen to arrest him on and what we would have arrested him on if he hadn't cooperated with us -- I think it's reasonable to conclude they might be different,” he said. “Really what we wanted most for Nancy is her son's body, and without his cooperation we weren't going to get that.”

Reached Thursday, Curtis Huntzinger's sister, Sarah, said she wants her brother's body to be put at rest, so the family can have peace.

”I just want justice for my brother,” she said.

The DA's Office has called a press conference for this afternoon, when it is expected to offer more details in the case. Hash could be officially charged as soon as today, Gallegos said.

☛ TS A momentous find for a metal detector

Update:
☛ TS Never too late for resolution
☛ TS editorial Never too late for resolution
☛TS Hash receives 11 years in prison 1/3/09
◼ Curtis Huntzinger's mother wins wrongful death lawsuit

UPDATED:

◼ Former Blue Lake Police Chief David Gundersen has been cleared of all major charges first filed against him in 2008. - Arcata Eye MARCH 2012

****