Arcata Police Say They Will ‘Work to Identify the Suspect who Murdered David Josiah Lawson’ After Grand Jury Declines to Indict Anyone
The Arcata Police Department would like to thank District Attorney Maggie Fleming and her team for their work on the David Josiah Lawson murder investigation. We would also like to thank the jurors of Humboldt County who committed their time to review this case.
The Arcata Police Department’s goal is to present an investigation to the District Attorney that will meet the standard required by law for prosecution. We respect the decisions that have been made and will go right back to work to identify the suspect who murdered David Josiah Lawson.
“The outcome is disappointing and not what we hoped for. The City brought outside homicide expertise in to complete the investigation. We remain committed to solving this case for the Lawson family and our community. Chief Ahearn has increased staff dedicated to criminal investigations and they will immediately get back to work on this case,” said Mayor Brett Watson of the Grand Jury decision.
The Arcata Police Department will build upon the initial investigation in search of witnesses who have yet to come forward; building leads as new information becomes available. We will not rest until Josiah’s killer is identified and held accountable.We continue to need the public’s assistance to help identify witnesses who have information that will lead investigators to understand with specificity who is responsible for Josiah’s murder.
Anyone with information regarding the murder of David Josiah Lawson is asked to call the Arcata Police Department at 707-825-2520 or 707-601-6943.
Earlier Stories about David Josiah Lawson:
- 19-Year-Old HSU Student Dies After Stabbing in Arcata Early This Morning
- 23-Year-Old McKinleyville Resident Arrested in Connection with HSU Student’s Stabbing Death
- HSU Offers Students Who Witnessed Stabbing Death Amnesty for Breaking School Rules; Asks Cooperation With Police
- Arcata Police Not Releasing Photo of Suspect in Stabbing Death for Now
- APD Received Anonymous Email About Fatal Stabbing; Pleads With Writer to Come Forward
- Celebration of the Life of Stabbing Victim Will be Held at Humboldt State University Today; Racial Bias Alleged to Have Led to Death
- Hundreds Mourn Slain HSU Student at Thursday Vigil
- Uncle of Fatal Stabbing Suspect Writes Letter to the Editor Urging Community Re-examine Public Statements Made in the Case
- Family of Arcata Stabbing Suspect Claims the Real Killer Has Not Been Caught (Includes Timeline of Events as Presented in Public Statements by Those at the Party)
- HSU and Arcata Police Issue Statements Following Release of Kyle Zoellner in the Stabbing Death of David Josiah Lawson
- District Attorney’s Office Issues Statement as Defendant in Racially Charged Case Released
- Family of Kyle Zoellner Who Was Released Today in Stabbing Death Issues Statement to Family and Friends of Victim
- Justice for Josiah Gathering Keeps Arcata Lively Tonight; Another Protest Called for Tomorrow
- Letter to the Community of Arcata from Kyle Zoellner’s Uncle
- Chanting “‘Justice for Josiah,’ Protesters Gather at the Courthouse
- Family Announces $10,000 Reward for Information Leading to Conviction of Killer of David Josiah Lawson
- APD Chief and Victim’s Mother Offer Updates on the Stabbing Death of David Josiah Lawson
- Letter From Family Member Questions Testimony of Witnesses in Hearing About Kyle Zoellner’s Possible Role in the Death of David Josiah Lawson
- ‘Reckless Statements’ Were Made by Tom Parker, and Lawson Attorney, Shelley Mack, Writes Uncle of Kyle Zoellner in Letter to the Editor
- Protestors Take Over Arcata City Council Meeting Demanding Justice for Josiah
- A Deeper Look at Last Thursday’s Disruption of the Arcata City Council by Protesters Demanding That Tom Parker Be Asked Back to Help in the Josiah Lawson Case
- Mother of Josiah Lawson Claims DNA on Knife Identifies her Son’s ‘Murderer’, Calls for Justice
- Grand Jury ‘Declines’ to Indict Anyone for Stabbing Death of David Josiah Lawson
- Arcata Police Say They Will ‘Work to Identify the Suspect who Murdered David Josiah Lawson’ After Grand Jury Declines to Indict Anyone
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“Police fail to make an arrest in more than a third of the nation’s murders, resulting in an ever-increasing accumulation of cold cases.”
source: http://www.decodedc.com/how-many-unsolved-murders-are-there-in-the-u-s/
Who gives a shit anymore!?!
We shouldn’t help those racists, playing the race card.
They have disturbed our community enough!!
Cause trouble in someone else’s town.
🕯Hmmmmmm.
Micro aggressions abound & the intersectionality of cannabis and non -profit grant priveledge are peckingly fire resilient..
One solution would be to demolish and repurpose the entire colonial village of arcata, since it’s a rascist town built on stolen land. Then we can ban electricity too, because it’s part of the lineage of pale ghost colonialism. Then maybe H.S.U. Can retool by dim candlelight to teach children how to be adults, since parents somehow let teaching get outsourced to boarding schools and debtor colleges.
Boo!
Go vegan!(right)
Warning! Technology and schooling may turn generations against each other in a time warp of contradicting values!
We may be speeding out of control toward a technological cyborg reality that has never really been voted on!
Democracy may only count when it comes to voting on which technologies the village wishes to subjugate itself too!
But it’s a crash course in brain surgery, like tori Amos said, so suck it up and try to swim!!
Mickey Mouse is dead!( refer to subhumans album for full song)
Canyon oak, your statement certainly is proof of your original statement that microaggressions abound.
Should have manned up and committed a macroaggression the way Josiah and his buddies did.
Thirdeye… I’m betting on one the dead guys buddies to be the perpetrator, justice served just like the statue got. Arcata gets what it deserves. Used to be a nice town before the progressives took over.
but it would be racist to involve him in an investigation even though he lied in his testimony
https://kymkemp.com/2018/04/22/reckless-statements-were-made-by-tom-parker-and-lawson-attorney-shelley-mack-writes-uncle-of-kyle-zoellner-in-letter-to-the-editor/
When microaggressions have been run into the ground, then subatomic aggressions will need to be asserted. Survival of the species is looking pretty shaky.
Initial arrest tossed out at prelim; grand jury now refuses to indict anyone; still Arcata is going to try to put a case together? They’re just throwing shit at the wall to see what sticks at this point.
They need to shut down any active investigation and move this mountain of shit over to the ‘cold case’ stack.
Sometimes you just don’t get an answer to things. You can keep digging, but for what purpose?
Because everything has been determined by race, the powers-that-be can’t let it go. They grabbed the tiger by the tail. They initially accepted that it was about race- that race played a part in the murder, then that racism kept the police from doing a proper investigation, then they responded to the cries of racism by continuing to pursue interviews where race based judgements kept calling all the witnesses’s testimony into question. It’s way too late for officials, having repeatedly acknowledged importance of race in guiding their own actions, to retreat into claiming the case is not prosecutable. They have the tiger by the tail and will continue to be dragged around by it as the races of the antagonists does not go away.
Very well said. The illustrious “leaders” of Arcata and HSU sought to capitalize on a wave of race-baiting and now they’re forced to duck and cover at the drop of a hat. Get out the popcorn!
Sometimes when the cops deliberately botch an “investigation” you still get answers. I am pretty sure that the answer is: the cops are corrupt.
The arc of justice is long. Kyle probably shouldn’t be too cocky just yet.
did you even read any of the evidence? they found the murder weapon (knife) and it had someone elses fingerprints on it. thats how they know it wasnt kyle and it was thrown under a car down the road and when they got there kyle was unconscious. so tell me how kyle could have stabbed the dead guy laying on top of him, then got someone else to hold the knife and put their prints on it then ran and thrown the knife under a car and then made it back to josiah and thrown josiah on top of him and wrapped josiahs arms around his neck and then choked himself out cold just in time for the cops to show up?
JUSTICE FOR KYLE. and yes they should always lock up a murderer and they should punish people who attack someone unwarranted.
Someone got away with murder here, and it clearly wasn’t the skinny little bird-boned kid who got knocked the f*** out. 👊. It’s kind of difficult to stab someone when you’re unconscious. The fact that Josiah’s so-called “friends” (please, just because you’re of a similar ethnic/racial background does NOT automatically make you “friends”) accused someone who clearly didn’t do it should bring some serious scrutiny and suspicion to some of Josiah’s so-called “friends”.
well my comment was clearly ridicule. and i think the reason they called the murderer josiahs friend, is because they were hanging out on the porch together and they jumped kyle together. the reason i dont think they are good friends is because the others present wont finger the murderer but hey what do i know maybe that is what josiah would have wanted
I’m not responding to YOUR use of the word “friends”. No, again, this calling every African-American person at that party a “friend” of Josiah has been a rather obvious race-based bias on the part of the local media ever since the night Josiah was killed. I’ve brought this “friends” business up multiple times online locally and directly with local media outlets with no apparent effect on local media coverage, which is absolutely no surprise. Apparently, the local media NEVER makes any mistakes (just ALL THE TIME!).
Just because your skin color is similar does NOT automatically make you “friends”. Just because you attend a drunken, coked-up, packed college party with someone who shares your skin color does NOT make you “friends”. Just because you end up sharing space on a porch at that party does NOT necessarily make you “friends”. It’s almost as if the local media needs to attend a seminar or something about the concept of friendship, or at least ask all of Josiah’s so-called “friends” one-by-one how friendly they actually were.
Never underestimate the power of [edit] when he wants to racist.
It seems to me there are multiple witnesses that know exactly wtf happened and they are doing an excellent job of keeping their respective pieholes shut. And the truth doesn’t fit the grievance culture’s narritive. No justice for nobody.
whit·ey
/ˈ(h)wīdē/
nouninformal•derogatory
noun: whitey; plural noun: whiteys; noun: whity; plural noun: whities
a contemptuous term used by black people to refer to a white person or to white people collectively.
It’s also a term used by a sarcastic white person who is trying to point out the ridiculousness of folks calling arcata a racist community because of some violent idiots behaving badly at a party, and covering for one another. For all we know someone acted in self defense and is scared to come forward. And feigned outrage like this takes away from the real fact that POC are regularly gunned down with impunity in other communities by police. This is not the same as that.
“poc are regularly gunned down” umm yeah this is not true. go look up case by case and then look up statistics based on race and see who is really being gunned down. dont forget to look up and see if they were armed or reaching for a weapon
LOL where are we going to “read the evidence” bright-eyes? They don’t tend to *release* the evidence for people to “read” when they’re in the process of making a case. Are you trying to run interference for your friend Kyle?
they did have several facts released when kyle was in jail and going through court. i cant seem to find them right this minute. and i am a friend to anyone that is wronged unjustly
this is a witness report pretty close to my rendition. i forgot about the pepper spray (kinda important since the wrong person got stabbed)
https://kymkemp.com/2017/04/27/family-of-arcata-stabbing-suspect-claims-the-real-killer-has-not-been-caught-includes-timeline-of-events-as-presented-in-public-statements-by-those-at-the-party/
https://kymkemp.com/2017/07/20/letter-from-family-member-questions-testimony-of-witnesses-in-hearing-about-kyle-zoellners-possible-role-in-the-death-of-david-josiah-lawson/
Some Lying POS spews the following lie:
“a car down the road and when they got there kyle was unconscious. s”
But the fact is:
When Paris Wright saw his friend David Josiah Lawson on the ground with another man in a headlock, at first he thought it was kind of funny.
“Where I come from we fight standing up,” Wright testified today. He said Lawson was lying face-up in the grass, with Kyle Zoellner lying face-up on top of him. One of Lawson’s arms was around Zoellner’s neck, the other was pinning his arms. He became worried that Lawson was going to hurt or even kill Zoellner, so he went to intervene.
Lawson was looking at him with a “blank stare,” he said, but he wouldn’t let go of Zoellner. He had to pry his arm away from the other man. He said Zoellner rolled away, and he reached out to help his friend Lawson up. He didn’t reach back.
“That’s when I saw blood,” Wright testified today during the second day of Zoellner’s preliminary hearing.
He looked at Zoellner and said “Did you stab my friend?”
Wright testified that Zoellner never got a chance to answer, because he punched him twice in the face as hard as he could.
Lawson and Zoellner had been lying next to a red Ford Mustang parked at the curb. An Arcata police officer later found a knife under the Mustang.
Wright testified that he never actually saw Lawson being stabbed. And attorneys agreed to stipulate today that the one distinguishable fingerprint on the knife was not Zoellner’s. Fibers found on the knife did not match fibers from Zoellner’s clothing. The knife itself has not been described.
https://lostcoastoutpost.com/2017/may/2/arcata-murder-hearing-witness-testifies-lawson-and/
why does it make you a klansman if you believe kyle didnt stab josiah? the finger print wasnt kyles. and they have been deleting testimony online, i just tried to find a video and now it is gone from channel seven
LOL! More like Josiahs friend shouldn’t feel too comfortable sleeping at night.
That is the Arc of Vengence of which you speak. Justice goes where the facts lead to hold someone accountable. Vengence picks out who is to be held accountable then seeks the evidence to prove it.
We should have another protest where we block the exits from Safeway and CVS and hold people hostage. While the police hide.
Justice for Jennika Lee Suaso. Young woman with bright future murdered in her own home. Headlines don’t ever mention her, sad
Alabama 1932. A bunch of white kids are drunk at a party when a black kid trying to stand up for himself and his girlfriend intervenes onto there party. Instantly pre judged and belittled by a mob mentality, the black kids gets jumped by multiple drunk/high white kids. Fighting for his life in a blurry of kicks and beat downs in the dark the black kid arises to find his face beat to a bloody pulp and a white kid on the ground with apparent knife wounds leaving him bleeding out. Enraged that this could possibly happen to one of “ there” kind, the white kids point in anger and disgust that of course it was the black kid that did it. The police are called and afraid of public outcry and political standings in a prominent non Liberal town, they temporarily side with the white kids due to possible outcry from the immediate public that is there. No witnesses to the crime, the police again assume it was the only singled out black kid that was to blam. Days later the town rally’s behind the white kids in fear that they too will be judged if they don’t. Even with physical evidence of a severe beat down by a mob of drunk white kids and no evidence of how or whom stabbed the innocent, collage bound upstanding citizen the town rallys behind false charges, biased police work and prejudice racist behavior . The black kid is rounded up and thrown in jail based on here say and is lynched downtown the following day. Justice is served.
Nice parallelism.
“their” kind.
“college” bound.
Thanks.
There are so many unsolved cases here, it’s really heartbreaking how many resources they’ve devoted to solving this one particular case because in this particular case the person who died, died while committing a violent crime with his friends and he was openly racist against white people and even posted video of two black makes in white face makeup mocking white people and was very openly against the police. Please let’s use the equivalent amount of resources on solving crimes where the victim died while they weren’t committing a crime. This should be a simple lesson to all people of all races that you should never commit a violent assault or you might die while committing that assault.
Do you have links to the videos you mention?
I said it before, and I’ll say it again. The punk got punked. Bad things happen to punks. It’s an object lesson for all punks. Don’t be a punk. Don’t hang with punks. Keep your kids from punk parties.
I worked with this Czech dude once that grew up under Soviet rule. We would be riding around togather and he would see some thug life dude walking around with his pants half way down and boxers ballooning out and he would say “erik, whats with these idiots? In my country we work hard for nice, tight American jeans, we smuggle them in on shipment, sometimes we pay whole weeks wages for these things. This idiot is just big pants punk.” So especially dont hang with big pants punks. On a similer note, i hung out with this punk dude that had an awesome mohawk (i was dating his girlfriends best friend who was really pretty down to earth). We went out to a show and he got dolled up pretty good, he had a chain between his boots and a chain between his nose ring and his ear ring, amongst other accoutrements. After he consumed much tequila, we were walking back to the car and he caught the chain between his boots on a sprinkler and fell, catching the chain between his piercings on a small tree branch in the parking lot thereby ripping his nose ring completely out and bloodying his earlobe. It had been agreed that i would drive because i was sober, but for some reason he decided, in his bleeding state of shock, he was going to drive us, and wanted to fight about it. All 3 of us had to subdue him and get him in the back seat where he proceeded to have a mental breakdown and started crying like a baby. We took him to him moms house as she was a nurse and he spent the night there with her. I remember his girlfriend kinda had her image of him shattered, and they broke up pretty quickly thereafter. So some punks aren’t that tough inside, but you never know until they go tits up and the piercings get ripped out. Never judge a punk by their looks, judge them by their actions. Unless their ass is hanging out.