<\/p>\n
Fifteen years after 18-year-old Bianca Jackson was killed outside a Cal State Bakersfield party, her mother and childhood friends say they continue to search for justice and keep her memory alive.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re not prepared to bury your child ever,\u201d said Veronica Aguayo, Bianca\u2019s mother. She has never stopped thinking about her daughter since that night in 2010. \u201cIt was considered a cold case \u2014 no new developments.\u201d<\/p>\n
On October 21, 2010, Jackson, a recent Ridgeview High School graduate, had gone with friends to a party at Cal State Bakersfield. As the night went on, tensions rose. Police said a local gang opened fire on rivals, and Jackson was hit as an innocent bystander.<\/p>\n
More than 150 people were at the party. A campus police officer responding to a fight heard gunfire ring out in the parking lot. Jackson died the next day at the hospital.<\/p>\n
Aguayo believes someone at the party \u2014 or others who heard what happened afterward \u2014 still hold answers. \u201cWe know from the beginning that there were more than one person involved,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Two men, Jonathan Darnell Bell and Christopher Lee Miller, were initially arrested but later released due to lack of evidence. Police questioned two other individuals but did not file charges. The case has remained unsolved.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to still think that now we\u2019re at 15 years and there\u2019s still no justice for her family,\u201d said Analicia Croonquist, one of Bianca\u2019s close friends. Croonquist and Annika Torres grew up with Bianca \u2014 sharing birthdays, drama club rehearsals, and late-night hangouts.<\/p>\n
Croonquist even named her daughter Bianca in honor of her friend\u2019s joyful spirit. <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know if she sees it yet, but I see the funny in her \u2014 that little girl,\u201d Torres said.<\/p>\n
Authorities recently announced the reward for information has been increased to $10,000. Friends and loved ones hope it will finally bring someone forward, even as they know it can\u2019t bring Bianca back.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust to know that somebody\u2019s being held responsible and taking accountability for a life \u2014 her life \u2014 that was taken,\u201d Aguayo said. \u201cIt would help though.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stay in Touch with Us Anytime, Anywhere:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fifteen years after 18-year-old Bianca Jackson was killed outside a Cal State Bakersfield party, her mother and childhood…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37141,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152,26,25881,14242,23,25],"class_list":["post-37140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news","tag-breaking-news","tag-family-and-friends-speak-about-bianca-jackson-case-15-years-later","tag-kero-23-bakersfield","tag-local-news","tag-newsbreak"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37140\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}