Beaumont Remembers Anthony 'Tony' Martinez, Investigating Officers, 20 Years After Tragedy

BEAUMONT, CA – Twenty years ago on April 4, a young Beaumont boy was taken from his home at knife-point by a serial killer who first lured the boy away from the family residence on the pretext of helping him search for a lost cat. The boy would never return.

Anthony "Tony" Martinez was just 10 years old.

"April 4, 1997 was a significant day in the history of Beaumont," Mayor Lloyd White said outside the Beaumont Police Station at a special ceremony this week in remembrance of Martinez. "It was the day a small, safe town where nothing really bad ever happened woke up to the reality that tragedy can happen anywhere. Beaumont went from a place where people often left their doors unlocked to a place where children weren't allowed to play alone outside."

Monday's ceremony marked the dedication of a memorial for Tony, along with two police lieutenants who played vital roles in helping the family deal with an unspeakable tragedy. A new plaque and fountain outside the entrance to the Beaumont Police Station ensures that though those law enforcement officers have since died, the memory of their efforts in this case will live on in the community forever.

Among those in attendance were Martinez's mom, Diana Reed, and his brother, Marcos Medina. They have since moved away from The Pass area but returned for this ceremony.

"I still remember seeing that man drive away with my brother," a visibly emotional Medina said through tears. "But I also remember Lt. John Acosta and Lt. Mitch White. The care and dedication they had for my family. As a child, they helped me feel comfortable and safe. And as a man, I model my career on the memory of these officers."

The new memorial was dedicated in part by Tony's family, who expressed repeatedly their gratitude to the Beaumont community for its tireless efforts in the search for the boy.

"For so many years, I spent time always worrying about whether I spent time saying thank you to the community and to individuals, and I know I never really had that opportunity," Reed said.

"We appreciated everything they did ... no matter how small it was, no matter how big it was," she added. "Everything that every single person did made a difference to us, it really did."

Reed described the efforts of both lieutenants John Acosta and Mitch White:

"Lt. Acosta spent time with us, side-by-side, when we went to interviews, when we went to do television shows and different things like that.

When Tony was missing he was always right there. Always standing with us, always helping us. Always bringing a lightheartedness, even, to the times when you shouldn't have been laughing but he still had the ability to make us feel good, to make us feel like people, and to not make us feel like we did not matter to law enforcement...

We had a personal relationship with him even outside of that, something that I don't know if anyone ever gets to experience... but it was a huge blessing to us, just to know how much he cared and how much he was willing to sacrifice ... He missed a lot of time with his family to be with mine... I could never really express how much we appreciate what he did for us."

"Lt. White was so involved in the investigation, and we would see him when we went down and we were talking to the FBI and things like that...

To see somebody that was from Beaumont, still eight, 10, 12 years later, still right there, still being involved in the investigation, still contributing whatever he could to the investigation, that was important to us....

"He still cared so many years later, he still wanted to make sure that the man that killed Tony was prosecuted for what he did."

"Twenty years ago, a true evil descended upon this fine community," Chief Sean Thuilliez said at the event. "It took from us one Anthony Martinez."

"But out of that, we saw a community come together," he said. "We saw folks that probably never would have met one another work to resolve through this tragedy, and a lot of bonds were formed in that moment of despair."

After he was taken, Anthony's remains were discovered two weeks later near a deserted road on the outskirts of Indio. His killer wouldn't be found until 14 years after the tragedy.

In 2011, Joseph Edward Duncan III was tied to the case and entered a guilty plea to the kidnapping, rape and murder of the boy in exchange for life in prison without the possibility of parole. The killer had already been sentenced to death for torturing and murdering a family in Idaho.

Last year, the Supreme Court denied a petition by Duncan to hear his appeal.

Watch a full recap of Monday's dedication here:

Images by Renee Schiavone, Patch