Reuben Franco, a 24-year-old resident of Cherry Valley, California, was found dead on February 8, 2019, in Yucaipa, California. The tragic discovery was made by deputies from the Yucaipa Police Department who were initially responding to a report of a 14-year-old runaway girl. Upon entering the residence on Avenue E, officers found Franco with an apparent gunshot wound. The investigation quickly escalated as detectives from the Specialized Investigations Division, Homicide Detail unit, were called to the scene to conduct a thorough investigation.
The investigation revealed that a 15-year-old girl was also missing from the residence, along with Franco's vehicle. The authorities soon learned that the two girls, aged 14 and 15, were friends who knew the victim. The case took a significant turn when officers from the Buckeye Police Department in Arizona contacted the homicide detectives, informing them that the two girls had been detained after crashing Franco's stolen vehicle into a gas pump at a station in Buckeye. The girls were subsequently taken into custody and transported back to San Bernardino County, where they were booked into Juvenile Hall on charges related to Franco's murder.
The motive behind the shooting was not immediately disclosed, and the investigation remained ongoing. The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department urged anyone with information about the case to come forward. The arrest of the two teenage girls marked a critical development in the case, as they faced serious charges for their alleged involvement in the fatal shooting of Reuben Franco. The legal proceedings and further investigations aimed to uncover more details about the circumstances leading to Franco's untimely death.
