HOLLISTER, Calif.- The search is on for a Los Banos man who sheriff's deputies said murdered a man, and left his body inside the trunk of a car in Moss Landing.
It's new information on a story that first made headlines on New Years Day. Sheriff's deputies in Merced County said Salvador Vega Rendon, Jr. killed Felipe Bravo.
"And I knew...I knew...I felt it in my heart that it was my brother and it is the worst day of my life. I hope I will never have to feel those things again...And it hasn't gotten any easier it's gotten harder."
Flora Bravo gets chocked up when she thinks about the call she got on News Years Day.
"My brother had called me that morning and said they had found my brother's car and told me there was a body in the trunk of the car."
It was her youngest brother, Felipe Bravo's body. Since then, it's been a mystery as to who killed her 23 year old brother who grew up with his family in Salinas.
Flora said just a few years ago she and her siblings moved their parents out to Los Banos from Salinas to get away from the chaos and violence, Felipe moved with them.
"He looked forward to transfering to Sacramento State in the fall, he liked computers."
But his murder on January 1, 2012, cut that plan short and changed the Bravo family's focus. Over the past couple of months, Flora said they raised $10,000 in reward money for information leading to Felipe's killer.
Earlier this week, they got a call from Merced County Sheriff investigators with the news of a suspect, Salvador Vega Rendon Jr. He lived across the street from Felipe's parents home.
"We still don't understand why...It's very hard to hear."
Now, with a new lead and a single white cross in the spot where Felipe was found, Flora said her hope is restored.
"I know that I have to be the strong one, and at some point I'll have a break down, but it won't be now. It won't be until we find out what happened and why they did this."
If you have any information on the suspect, you can leave an anonymous tip at the Merced County Sheriff's Office at 209-385-7608.
