This Saturday marks the four-year anniversary of Lola Rios Gutierrez’s worst nightmare — the disappearance of her teenage son Enrique Rios, now presumed murdered along with his friend Elijah Moore.
Yolo County authorities say both were slain by four other young men over a $300 marijuana robbery, a case that so far has sent one defendant to prison, while another admitted to the murders and two more still await trial.
In the years since Rios’ Oct. 17, 2016, disappearance, Gutierrez has maintained a near-constant presence on Facebook, paying tribute to her son with photos and videos from his upbringing in addition to posting updates about the ongoing court case.
She’s also hosted public gatherings in Rios’ remembrance, but with large crowds currently discouraged due to COVID-19, Gutierrez is making this year’s event virtual, asking her supporters to light a candle Saturday in memory of her son and either message her photos or post them to their own Facebook pages.
“This is an event to honor my son’s life, not his death,” said Gutierrez, who hopes to host a community gathering in January to celebrate what would have been Rios’ 21st birthday. “I want people to remember him for years to come.”
Moore, who was Rios’ classmate and friend, vanished on Nov. 4, 2016, and is presumed to have met the same fate. Their bodies, said to be buried in rural Knights Landing, have never been found.
His mother, Alicia Moore, could not be reached for comment this week.
Family and friends of missing Woodland teen Elijah Moore gather at a candlelight vigil and balloon release on Nov. 3, 2017, commemorating Elijah’s 18th birthday and the one-year anniversary of his disappearance. Rebecca Macias/Courtesy photo
June brought the two-year anniversary of the arrests in the double-homicide case, including that of ringleader David Froste, who authorities say orchestrated the killings after Moore, 17, robbed him of a jar of marijuana and fled. His accused cohorts, Jesus Campos and Chandale Shannon Jr., witnessed the holdup.
According to court documents and trial testimony, the trio contacted Rios, 16, after they failed to track down Moore after the robbery. But when Rios refused to lure Moore to them, David Froste fatally shot him.
Froste’s brother, Jonathan “Jay” Froste, joined the threesome several weeks later when the group encountered Moore in Woodland, abducting him and driving him to a remote area of Knights Landing where he was bludgeoned to death, authorities allege.
Two of the defendants, Shannon and Jay Froste, admitted to the foursome’s roles in the murders in jailhouse interviews with The Davis Enterprise following their arrests. Jay Froste took a plea deal in which he admitted to second-degree murder in exchange for his testimony against the others, including his brother, who was convicted of both killings and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in November 2018.
Trial proceedings for Campos and Shannon currently are scheduled to begin in February 2021. Both also are due to appear Friday in Yolo Superior Court, where Judge David Rosenberg is expected to rule whether their cases should be tried together or separately.
Gutierrez says she is hoping for a joint trial.
“It’s frustrating, because we have to keep going through these things over and over again,” she said. “I just want to focus on finding my son and bringing him home.”
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene
