Assemblyman May Offer $10k Reward To Find Killer

BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA - Assemblyman Paul Koretz said he was willing to add $10,000 to rewards offered to find the killer of a Chicago gay rights activist, whose body he found in a Beverly Hills alley 12 years ago Monday.
Koretz, then a West Hollywood councilman, said he was walking his bichon fries on Cinthia Street, between Oakhurst and Sierra Drives, on Oct 2., 1994, when a woman walker told him she thought she saw a body in the alley that Sunday morning.
Koretz walked closer and found the naked body of Jon A. Simmons, lying face down, with a single bullet wound to the head.
A burned-out car rented by Simmons was found more than 20 miles away in El Monte later that day, according to Beverly Hills police.
The Beverly Hills Police Department's Cold Case Homicide Unit resubmitted evidence to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Scientific Services Bureau for DNA analysis in 2005, but additional evidence was not found, according to Beverly Hills police Lt. Mitch McCann.
"This case has gotten cold so probably the only way that we ever figure out who did it is someone who knows, see this and decides to pick up a reward," said Koretz, D-West Hollywood. "Unfortunately, there's nothing out there."
Simmons was Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley's liaison to the gay and lesbian community as well as a leader who helped passed an ordinance protecting gays and lesbians from discrimination.
Simmons was at the Abbey Cafe in West Hollywood the night before his body was found, and may have visited bars nearby, according to McCann.
"It was kind of an odd case because (Simmons) was probably abducted in West Hollywood, but was found in Beverly Hills," Koretz said. "Neither city really wanted to make this crime a particular area of focus and so neither did anything extraordinary to solve it."
As a West Hollywood councilman, Koretz sponsored a $5,000 reward in the case.
"I'd love to see both cities make an additional effort to solve (this case)," said Koretz, who said he thinks about this case "all the time" and has had nightmares about it. "I would certainly be willing to add $10,000 (from personal or campaign accounts) to the amount if either of two cities offered a reward at that level."
Koretz said he made a similar offer on another crime several years ago, paying $5,000 to the reward fund which resulted in convictions in a West Hollywood assault.
from CBS 2

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