YORBA LINDA (CNS) — A sheriff's detective killed in a bomb blast last
month was eulogized today as a hard-working transplanted New Yorker who loved his wife and six children, his Southern California community and baseball's New York Yankees.
Detective William Osborn, a 33-year veteran of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, was remembered by bosses, colleagues, his brothers, sons and daughters during a service at Friends Church in Yorba Linda.
Osborn was killed in the explosion that occurred around 7:30 a.m. July 18 at the Biscailuz Regional Training Center in East Los Angeles.
Sheriff's detectives Joshua Kelley-Eklund and Victor Lemus also died in the blast.
It is believed that Osborn and the two other detectives were killed when one of two grenades that were seized from a Santa Monica apartment complex storage bin a day earlier exploded.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms
and Explosives is leading the investigation into the deadly blast.
Sheriff Robert Luna was among those who spoke at the service, which included representatives of law enforcement agencies across the region.
``I can't imagine the loss that all of you are experiencing,'' he said of Osborn, who was the fourth of five children who grew up in rural upstate New York.
``Bill's job required him to regularly train and care for his
explosive dog Kimber, but if you asked him Bill would say he wasn't really a pet guy,'' the sheriff continued. ``What he wouldn't tell you is that when he was relaxing at home he could be seen with his family cat Gypsy sleeping on his
lap, and if the cat wasn't around, the family dog, a 160-pound Cane Corso named Zeus would try to do the same.''
Luna called Osborn someone who would show up when he was needed and that if you were a friend of his, you knew it.
His favorite one-liner was ``That's what she said,'' according to
Luna, who added, ``I think every New Yorker learns that in sixth grade.''
Osborn ``was one of our best,'' Luna said, referring specifically to the elite Arson-Explosives Detail of the sheriff's Special Enforcement Bureau.
Osborn's youngest brother Tom choked up as he recalled how when he and Osborn were kids they shared a room and bunk bed and were big fans of professional wrestling. Their favorite wrestler was Jimmy ``Superfly'' Snuka.
``We both enjoyed watching it together,'' he said. ``What I didn't, however, enjoy was when Bill got inspired by one of these guys and enjoyed using me as his training dummy, practicing his arm bars, half Nelsons, full Nelsons and the dreaded figure-four leg lock.''
Osborn's daughter Rachael recalled how, while attending the funeral of Osborn's pediatrician brother Mark a few months ago, Osborn leaned over and said he would never have as many people at his funeral.
``Little did he know just how appreciated he was as well,'' she said.
Osborn's wife, Detective Shannon Valenzuela, said her heavy heart was ``both broken and full.''
``Broken because I lost the love of my life, my person, my soulmate, the father of my children, and full because of the love and beautiful memories that he gave us.''
He showed courage in his career and did it quietly, with no
expectation of recognition, because ``that's just who he was,'' she said.
``There is a dark silence now that feels unbelievably unbearable,'' she said. ``But I carry him with me in every breath that I take.''
Osborn graduated from the sheriff's academy in February 1992, according to the department.
He was initially assigned to Men's Central Jail and then transferred to Pico Rivera Station in 1998 as a patrol deputy.
He transferred to the Industry Station in 2001 and was promoted to the rank of detective, where he received commendations for his work recovering stolen vehicles.
After working as a detective for over a decade, handling more than 100 cases each year, Osborn transferred to Training Bureau as an Emergency Vehicle Operations Center Instructor in 2016.
The department credited his love for investigations drawing him back to again being a detective.
Osborn joined Special Enforcement Bureau as an arson and explosive investigator in 2019, handling cases involving high-dollar loss fires in residential properties, as well as fires involving the loss of life.
He was described in an obituary supplied by the department as ``one of tenured bomb technicians regularly relied upon when faced with a new challenge. He has broad range of experience and could be relied upon to provide
relevant insight on broad range of subjects.''
Osborn is survived by his wife as well as four sons and two daughters.
Funeral services for Kelley-Ecklund are to be held Thursday at Grace Baptist Church, 22833 Copper Hill Drive in Santa Clarita.
The third funeral, for Lemus, is scheduled for Aug. 12 at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills, 4201Eucalyptus Ave. in Chino.
Sheriff's Arson Explosives Detail investigators assisted Santa Monica police on July 17 to retrieve a pair of grenades that were found in an apartment building storage unit near Bay Street and Lincoln Boulevard, Luna said previously.
The devices were examined, X-rayed and believed to be inert,
but sheriff's officials retrieved the grenades and took them to the Biscailuz facility in the 1000 block of North Eastern Avenue ``to be destroyed and rendered safe.''
It remains unclear what caused the single grenade to detonate, but Luna said the investigation determined that only one device exploded.
The whereabouts of the second grenade remain unknown. Luna said the department has begun an internal investigation into the handling of the situation.
After the explosion, investigators returned to the Santa Monica apartment building to conduct a more thorough search, and at least two search warrants were executed in Marina del Rey, where authorities were seen searching
a boat and a storage facility.
No details of that investigation have been released.
Anyone with information on either of the two devices was asked to call1-888-ATF-TIPS (8477), or the LASD Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500.
Anonymous tipsters can call Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).
