Clues surface in 1978 Phoenix murder
by JJ Hensley - Feb. 19, 2012 08:57 PM
The Republic | azcentral.com
The newspaper clips tell a story of a case that caught the attention of Phoenix residents and police agencies in 1978 but quickly went cold despite offers of cash rewards for information and a plea through the Valley's nascent silent-witness program.
That's where John B. Bryant's murder file languished, among the cold cases, for more than 30 years until Phoenix police investigators and lab workers tested evidence seized from the crime scene and developed information that pointed them to Manuel Corona, already serving time in a Tucson prison for an unrelated murder.
Corona, 71, was booked into a Maricopa County jail earlier this month on suspicion of murdering Bryant in the 300 block of East Clarendon Avenue on Feb. 9, 1978, as Bryant was returning from a trip to a grocery store. Bryant's wife and son have both died since he was murdered, but his daughter-in-law, Charlene Bryant, said she made a promise to Bryant's wife before she died in 1999. "We would find out who killed dad," Charlene said, recalling her vow. "It's something that affected the whole family, truly." John Bryant, 57, was returning from an A.J. Bayless Store at Third Avenue and Indian School Road on a Thursday evening in early February 1978 when he stopped for some unknown reason on Clarendon Avenue, just blocks from his home. Neighbors called police to report a fight in the street, according to news accounts from the time, and officers arrived to find Bryant stabbed and sprawled in the street with his groceries scattered nearby. Bryant's truck and wallet were gone. The following day, police would send a helicopter to search the Gila River Reservation, and they alerted law enforcement in western states to watch for the 1978 Ford pickup, according to news accounts. The truck was found soon thereafter in an alley near the 1600 block of West Garfield Street. A $ 2,000 reward was offered for information on Bryant's murder and Silent Witness, a law-enforcement tip line that began the year after Bryant's death, featured the construction worker's case in a May 1979 notice. Authorities had no idea that Bryant's accused killer was already in jail, where he'd been since less than a month after Bryant's death. Corona had been arrested on murder charges on March 1, 1978, after killing a woman and engaging in a chase and shootout with pursuing police. Carmen Delgado was sitting in a truck in an onion field near 107th Avenue and Indian School Road when Corona approached the truck and tried to steal a cash box containing $ 1,500, according to court documents. A struggle ensued and Corona shot Delgado with a .357 Magnum that was stolen that morning, according to court records. Corona ran to a waiting car as Delgado's son gave chase, then Corona sped away with Sylvia Salazar at the wheel. A sheriff's deputy spotted the car and pulled it over, but Corona grabbed the gun from under the passenger seat and began firing at the deputy. Corona and Salazar fled on foot and were found hiding in a bush nearby with the gun and cash box underneath them, according to court records. Two businessmen at a West Valley rental-supply store recognized Corona when they saw him on TV that night and informed police that he had bound them in the back room of their store in late February while he tried to rob the place. Corona escaped with $ 1, according to court documents. Corona pleaded guilty to the murder of Delgado, among other charges, in May 1978. Salazar pleaded guilty one month later to armed robbery, among other charges. The couple married with the consent of the Sheriff's Office that same month. Then-Maricopa County Superior Court Judge (and future Supreme Court Justice) Sandra Day O'Connor sentenced Corona to life in prison and Salazar to 15 years for their crimes. Corona escaped from the minimum-security facility in Florence in 1987 by blending in with visitors and walking out of the front gate unnoticed, but he eventually was recaptured. With that, Corona prepared to live out his days in state custody for Delgado's murder. That is, until Phoenix police investigators armed with new evidence requested Corona's transfer to Maricopa County to stand trial in a 34-year-old murder Corona was never previously linked to. "These are people, clearly, when you're dealing with cold cases, who thought they'd skated on these charges," said Phoenix police Sgt. Tommy Thompson, a department spokesman. The agency's cold-case squad has bulked up in recent years due to an influx of funding via the federal government's economic-recovery effort and Arizona's public-safety stabilization program. The squad has added five additional investigators and cleared 22 cases in the past three years. Bryant's case is the oldest, said Phoenix police Sgt. Troy Hillman. To Bryant's surviving family members, it is the most significant. "Sometimes, we did lose hope, and before Detective (J.J.) Alberta called me, I truly was beginning to think that I would never know," Charlene said. "I got off the phone and I was at work and I just started crying."
Read More @ Source Criminal Stories Here
Comments