The tragic road from Valley Center to Orange County

Excerpts from stories H.G. Reza wrote for the Reader

Author

By H.G. Reza

Publish Date

May 14, 2023

They should have turned back at Turning Rock, but Duguay and Cecil Knutson pressed on.

Treacherous Santiago Canyon Road
Leonard Duguay’s 85th birthday came and went on July 5, 2016, without celebration. The Modjeska Canyon resident had disappeared and the search for him took a mysterious turn weeks later when his car was found ... (April 26, 2017)

Dave Sossaman and Sher Mohammad Haidari in Afghanistan

Army platoon interpreter in Afghanistan ends up in El Cajon
Sher Mohammad Haidari heard the radio crackle with Taliban chatter as the Army platoon he was with trudged through a valley in eastern Afghanistan looking for a U.S. soldier who had abandoned his post. (December 14, 2016)

Former FBI agent Jim Bernazzani is speaking out about intelligence failures before 9/11. (Cheryl Gerber)

9/11 could have been stopped in San Diego
The 9/11 attacks could have been derailed in San Diego, had the CIA not spiked a memo alerting the FBI about an Al Qaeda terrorist who was coming to the United States and ended up ... (September 7, 2016)

Bayoumi: Local Muslims suspected him of spying.

What was Omar al-Bayoumi doing in San Diego?
Bayoumi met the hijackers at a Los Angeles restaurant, found a Clairemont apartment for them, helped them open a checking account at Bank of America, and hosted parties for them in San Diego and El Cajon. (July 27, 2016)

San Diego County Sheriff’s deputies found Peters’ VW stripped and abandoned on Mussey Grade Road in Ramona. A swastika was scratched on the roof.

The unsolved case of La Mesa's Jamie Peters
Nearly 31 years ago, Jamie Peters walked into his mother’s home in La Mesa and dropped off his house keys. It was a brief nighttime visit. He paused long enough to look around the familiar.. (June 19, 2019)

Antonio Palma: “I had no connection to the war. I never even served in the military." (Matthew Suárez)

Mission Hills visitor to Vietnam sucked into MIA search
Antonio Palma felt something or someone was driving him to visit Vietnam, a place to which he had no ties. Not knowing what awaited him and traveling to the other side of the world without.... (October 3, 2018)

Julie Page said Nathan’s frustration caused him to take two stress leaves in his last year at Lincoln. (Gil Reza)

Alleged sexual assault at Lincoln High School leads to teacher's suicide
At the end of his life, Nathan Page dismissed the loyalty of friends who cared deeply about him. In a fit of pique, he unfriended many of them on Facebook and attacked them in angry texts and emails before he killed himself. (March 28, 2018)

H.G. Reza worked at the Los Angeles Times for 25 years, covering law enforcement and terrorism.