Laguna Beach detectives search for new clues in decades-old cold case
While it was nearly 32 years ago, Micah Stepanian still remembers the beautiful night with his friend Jeff Wilson.
"I remember coming down here to meet up with some friends and we were having a bonfire over here," Stepanian recalls.
That beautiful night ended in tragedy, however, when a teen opened fire on the pair. Wilson did not survive.
"To be honest with you, it's paralyzing, and quite frankly, it's frustrating that it has such an effect," Stepanian said.
The killer was never caught. Shell casings were left on Pacific Coast Highway above Aliso Beach. Stepanian remembers stopping here with friends on the way home to Los Angeles County from a surfing trip to Mexico.
"Water balloons were coming down," Stepanian recalled. "We thought that it had to do with the two guys who were standing up on the cliff so I went up there to ask them to knock it off. Jeff came with me."
Stepanian said things quickly escalated. One teenager on the cliff pulled out a knife and the other had a gun.
"I felt a shot and went down and heard quite a few more shots," Stepanian remembered.
Wilson was hit in the back and on the side of his head. The suspects were never seen again.
The Laguna Beach Police Department released a sketch of the teen who had a gun.
Laguna Beach cold case detective Daron Wyatt spent the last year and a half searching for new clues to try and solve the decades-old homicide.
"Our training experience tells us the suspects had to have talked to somebody during that time and somebody knows what happened," Wyatt said.
The death of Stepanian's friend has impacted him deeply.
"Jeff had his whole life ahead of him," he said. "He was super vibrant, very fun, had a great attitude, was hilarious ... I think he would have done great things had he been given the chance and had his life not been cut short."
