Politics & Government
Banning Police: $25,000 Reward for Info in Phillips Avenue Homicides Unclaimed
Whoever killed Natasha Biggers, 33, Demetrius Hunt, 42, and Cynthia Smith, 57, and left a toddler bound and gagged in the same home on Phillips Avenue likely has local connections, according to police and relatives of the victims.
Banning police have received numerous calls and tips about the triple homicide on North Phillips Avenue in September 2011, but no arrests have been made and a $25,000 reward offered by the city is unclaimed, a police sergeant said Thursday.
"We've received calls with some information, and calls confirming information we already know," Banning police Sgt. Alex Diaz, supervisor of detectives, said in a phone interview.
The Banning city council voted 5-0 Feb. 28 to approve Banning police Chief Leonard Purvis' request for the $25,000 reward. The incentive money is for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever is responsible for the killings discovered Sept. 6.
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Whoever killed Natasha Biggers, 33, Demetrius Hunt, 42, and Cynthia Smith, 57, and left a toddler in the same home on Phillips Avenue likely has local connections, according to police and relatives of the victims.
"On September 6, 2011, a triple homicide took place inside a residence located in the 100 block of N. Phillips . . . in the City of Banning," Purvis told the city council earlier this year.
Find out what's happening in Banning-Beaumontwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
"Since that time, Banning Police Department Investigators have followed up on over one hundred leads on the case," Purvis said. "Unfortunately, none of the information has led to the arrest of the suspect(s) responsible for the homicides."
Police investigators "believe there are individuals in the community that may have information needed to break the case and believe a reward will provide enough incentive for this person, or individuals to come forward."
"We need help, and by posting a reward that will help," Marva Biggers, aunt of Natasha, said in January. She came to a with Natasha's mother, Deborah Biggers, to encourage the city to offer the reward.
A printable pdf copy of the reward flier is attached to this report.
The city of Banning is in the San Gorgonio Pass about 85 miles east of Los Angeles.
Anyone with information was urged to contact Detective Robert Merritt at (951) 849-1194. The case number is 11-3336.
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