It's been three years since a double murder in Chula Vista left one family with more questions than answers.
On August 30th, 2022, two men were shot in their vehicle and tried to drive away.
They crashed their truck into another car and later died at the hospital.
They were 43-year-old David Bruley and 22-year-old Joseph Arias.
“I put a flyer up at the taco shop, the liquor store, and the barbershop,” said Deborah Schlemmer, who lost her son and step-grandson in the incident. “I go put these flyers up every year, and I'm gonna stick with the same flyer cause it's still the same thing, you know, and so I will put these up all over the park at the store.”
Three years of flyers asking the community what happened have still not brought forth many results.
Unanswered questions are a part of Schlemmer’s daily routine, on top of the grief for her lost loved ones.
“What do you miss most about Dave and Joe being in your life?” I asked.
“Oh, their happiness that they brought. The happiness they brought,” said Schlemmer.
Bruley left behind a 7-year-old daughter at the time of his death.
“My granddaughter had to turn 10 without her dad, you know, so that's kind of a lot,” said Schlemmer.
Arias also left behind a young child.
“Joe was so funny, and you know, he was really just becoming a dad, so it was kind of neat to see him being a dad, you know, and growing into the man that he was growing into,” said Schlemmer.
Schlemmer says getting in touch with detectives gets harder and harder.
Her efforts to get cameras placed at Valle Lindo Park also didn’t get far.
But even after three years, she won’t let this case go cold.
“It's a big loss. It's my firstborn, you know,” said Schlemmer. “I had him when I was 16, so I've known him for a long time, you know, we were raised together in a way, you know, so.”
Schlemmer plans to hold a memorial on Saturday to remember her son and step-grandson.
We reached out to the Chula Vista Police Department to see how the investigation is going: They said no public updates are available.
