Murder, Salinas Style: Book Two

About the Book

The City of Salinas has a long history of violence and murder. From the deaths of innocent children to the brutality of gang executions, Salinas continues to be rocked by night and daytime murders committed in all parts of town. Now considered one of the gang hot spots in the U.S., Salinas has more than just gang related homicides each year. Only a few of the stories in this book were the result of gang activity. More often, homicides are committed by family members or friends. The sometimes graphic and frightening details of each of the cases in this book are told through the eyes of the police detectives who worked the cases and the court files and newspaper articles available.

Many of the murderers were caught and stood trial. Some were sent to prison and others were found innocent. All had stories compelling enough to warrant inclusion in this second history of homicide cases in Salinas. It is hoped this book will remind the citizens of Salinas of the many victims who go unremembered and perhaps encourage those with information about current or unsolved homicides to come forward.

In the four month period during which this book was written, there were eight more murders in Salinas and dozens of shootings that left victims injured. The damage to the community cannot be overlooked as Salinas continues to struggle against a reputation of violence that has been its legacy since 1903 when the first police chief took office.

About the Author

Lisa Eisemann is a Salinas native and a licensed private investigator with a degree in Criminology and graduate work in forensics. While working for the defense on a gang murder case, she met husband Joe Gunter, the lead homicide detective for the Salinas Police Department. Both were experts in gangs and crime scene investigation and found common ground in their search for the truth in cases they worked. Eisemann’s grandmother, Mae Eisemann, was the first female police officer for the Salinas Police Department. The stories of her career and the complete history of the police department were covered in Eisemann’s first book, The First Police Woman, A History of the Salinas Police Department.

A subsequent book covered many homicides in the history of Salinas that were not gang related. Murder, Salinas Style: Book One is a collection of over fifty stories of murders in and around Salinas. The number of murders committed in the city is too great for even two books and a third is currently being researched. Murder, Salinas Style: Book Two, includes thirty-four murders that occurred between 1966 and 2001.

Eisemann owns the Salinas School of Dance and is the director of the Spirit of Salinas Irish Dance Company and the Salinas Valley Civic Ballet Company. Eisemann and Gunter live and work in Salinas with their daughter, Terrin.