{"id":11455,"date":"2012-04-18T20:37:15","date_gmt":"2012-04-19T03:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.57.196.122\/~gdatwofo\/theavtimes\/?p=11455"},"modified":"2022-01-09T14:22:54","modified_gmt":"2022-01-09T22:22:54","slug":"detectives-family-seek-answers-in-cold-case-murder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2012\/04\/18\/detectives-family-seek-answers-in-cold-case-murder\/","title":{"rendered":"Detectives, family seek answers in cold case murder"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Yondy “Faye” Bryant has dedicated an entire room in her home to her sister, Biiiance Hawkins,, who was brutally murdered in April 2001 in Lancaster. So far, the case remains unsolved.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LANCASTER – Biiiance Hawkins had said she would be extremely busy over the Easter weekend; so when family members didn\u2019t hear from her, they were unconcerned.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe said she would be shopping all Saturday and getting ready to sing in the choir on Sunday,\u201d said sister Yondy \u201cFaye\u201d Bryant. \u201cA lot of people said they tried to call her, but I just told them she was busy.\u201d<\/p>\n

But on Monday, Hawkins didn\u2019t show up for work at Antelope Valley Hospital, and coworkers began to worry. A concerned coworker contacted Faye and the two went to Hawkins’ Gadsden Avenue apartment.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Biiiance Hawkins was 33 at the time of her death.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI see her car in the usually spot, so we knocked on the door \u2013 no answer,\u201d Faye said. \u201cThen I just felt something.\u201d<\/p>\n

Faye said bad vibes prompted her to go to the apartment manager and request to be let in to her sister\u2019s apartment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first thing I see is her coffee table turned over,\u201d Faye said. \u201cBefore I could get my foot in the living room he told me \u2018No, don\u2019t come in!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was so red, like he just saw a ghost or something,\u201d Faye continued. \u201cI felt it, and I just started screaming.\u201d<\/p>\n

Faye was not allowed into her sister\u2019s apartment that day. When she learned the details of her sister\u2019s death, she knew why.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was duct taped across her face, her arms were duct taped behind her, her feet were also duct taped, and her throat was slashed,\u201d said Sgt. Richard Longshore of the Sheriff\u2019s Homicide Bureau.<\/p>\n

Antelope Valley\u00a0Hospital nurse Biiiance Hawkins<\/strong>, 33, died of asphyxiation, according to the Los Angeles County coroner’s office. On Monday, April 16, 2001, her body was found bound and gagged in the bedroom of her first-floor apartment at 43223 Gadsden Avenue in Lancaster. Officials believe she was killed some time over the weekend. Hawkins was not sexually assaulted and there were no signs of forced entry to the apartment, Sgt. Longshore said.<\/p>\n

He said Hawkins was “totally overpowered” by her attacker, and her murder was especially brutal.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuffocating is one of the worst ways you can go, as far as I\u2019m concerned,\u201d Sgt. Longshore said. \u201cShe suffered greatly during her last minutes of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mystery surrounding Hawkins\u2019 death has left family members suffering for more than a decade.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Hawkins (second from left) worked as a nurse at Antelope Valley Hospital.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI think about it all the time, over and over, especially on anniversaries and birthdays,\u201d said Faye. \u201cIt just bothers my mind and I can\u2019t get any closure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Family members will join Sgt. Longshore this weekend at the apartment complex where Hawkins was murdered. The group will be passing out flyers regarding the crime and appealing to the community for information.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re asking anyone who might still live in that community, from 2001 up to now, to tell us if they might have seen something,\u201d Faye said. \u201cDon\u2019t assume that something isn\u2019t important, just come forward, because any little thing might help us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking for anyone that has any information, whatsoever, who might have known the victim or her associates,\u201d Longshore said.<\/p>\n

One of Hawkins\u2019 associates at the time of her murder was her boyfriend, whom family members knew only as \u201cChina.\u201d Faye said her sister introduced the family to \u201cChina\u201d about six months before her death. Hawkins said she had met “China” through his cousin, who lived at her apartment complex.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was dressed up like a church guy, so at the time, I had no suspicions of him,\u201d Faye said. \u201cHe was really quiet.\u201d<\/p>\n

After Hawkins\u2019 death, family members learned that \u201cChina\u201d was actually Eugene Ross, a parolee from Los Angeles. He had told Hawkins and her family that he was in his 30s, but he was actually a 21-year-old, gang member with a lengthy criminal history, officials said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis two nicknames were \u2018Evil\u2019 and \u2018China,\u2019\u201d said Longshore.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Family members will pass out flyers Saturday at the Gadsden Ave Apartments where Hawkins was killed.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Longshore said they questioned Eugene \u201cEvil\u201d \u201cChina\u201d Ross shortly after Hawkins\u2019 murder. They arrested him for violating his parole, as they searched for clues in the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to let him go because we had no other proof,\u201d said Longshore. \u00a0\u201cI\u2019m sure there are people that know what happened who were afraid at the time of this individual.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ross found his way to Las Vegas where he was convicted for the 2006 murder of 22-year-old Joseph Kevin Smalley. Smalley was reportedly<\/a> bound with duct tape and forced to give up the combination to his safe before he was shot several times. Ross was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to 20 to 50 years.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cThere are some similarities between the two cases,\u201d Longshore said. \u201cWe\u2019re looking at him [Ross] as a person of interest, but we\u2019re also not excluding anyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Longshore is asking anyone with information about the murder of Biiiance Hawkins to contact the Sheriff\u2019s Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500.<\/p>\n

If you would like to assist the family of Biiiance Hawkins in canvassing the community for information about her murder, you can meet the group at 10 a.m. on Saturday, April 21, 2012 in front of the liquor store on the corner of Gadsden Avenue and Avenue K, in Lancaster.<\/strong><\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LANCASTER – Biiiance Hawkins had said she would be extremely busy over the Easter weekend; so when family members didn\u2019t hear from her, they were unconcerned. \u201cShe said she would be shopping all Saturday and getting ready to sing in the choir on Sunday,\u201d said sister Yondy \u201cFaye\u201d Bryant. \u201cA lot of people said they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11460,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[719],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11455"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11455"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11455\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":106044,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11455\/revisions\/106044"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}