Investigators still frustrated in S. Lake murder case

Assisted by the FBI and reportedly questioning people daily, the South Lake Tahoe Police Department is not forgetting the possible drug-related murder two months ago of 23-year-old Elijah Deluna.

Reported six hours after his body was discovered with a bullet-wound in the head, Deluna's death marked the first known homicide in South Lake Tahoe since September 2001.

It's also the first under police Chief Don Muren who has been in the top cop position for two years.

"We don't want this case to get too old," he said.

Two other cases contain the possibility of murder. In February 2003, Bobette Ulrich disappeared from South Lake Tahoe when she drove to the Bay area. Her abandoned car was located. Last August, real estate agent Jeff Bursha's body was found in the bathroom after his house on Park Avenue went up in flames.

Deluna's death may have been drug related, over methamphetamine or cocaine or both, Muren said.

The case has proved not to be an open-and-closed investigation. As detectives dig deeper, they've found stolen vehicles from Carson City at the Blackwood Apartments at 3546 Spruce Ave., where Deluna rented a unit. There's also the drug angle, which has brought the assistance from SLEDNET, South Shore's drug enforcement team, and its counterpart in Carson Valley, TRINET.

"It's a little more difficult in that it's such a vast investigation," Hewlett said.

Two police detectives have been assigned to the murder as lead investigators, but the team looking into the case varies from four to eight officers, Hewlett said.

"It's certainly frustrating not having somebody in custody," Muren said. "We'd like to determine who is responsible for this and use the system to bring them to justice."

Hewlett echoes those sentiments.

"We're investigating someone who lost their life, and it can't get more important than that," he said, adding "We will have a resolution to this."