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Board renews reward in death of Palmdale teen

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The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors this week renewed a reward of $20,000 in the 2016 killing of a high school student in Palmdale.

Supervisor Kathryn Barger recommended extending the reward, set to expire today, in the killing of 17-year-old Jaquarius “Jay” Quinn, who was found shot about 8:30 p.m. Nov. 6, 2016, in the 2300 block of Old Harold Road, an area deputies called deserted. The Palmdale City Council has offered an additional $10,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction.

Investigators said Quinn shared an early Sunday dinner with family members who last saw him about 5 p.m. on the day he was killed. Detectives are unsure of a motive for the killing and said it was unclear if he was shot on the street or pushed out of a vehicle.

The R. Rex Parris High School 11th-grader’s hobbies included playing flag football with his friends, drawing, cooking and dancing. He was hoping to become an actor.

“Somebody knows what happened to my son.” the teen’s mother, Jessica Quinn, said during a January news conference. “My son didn’t deserve that. He was a kid. I mean, a child. How do you take a kid’s life like that? … I just want justice.”

Barger also recommended renewing a $20,000 reward for information on the suspicious disappearance of then-28-year-old Monique Figueroa, who was last seen driving away from her Littlerock home in the 7200 block of East Avenue U-12 around 4 a.m. May 19, 2015.

Figueroa’s car, a 2004 burgundy Mercedes-Benz, was recovered 11 days later in an abandoned shed in Juniper Hills. Authorities said there were signs of foul play.

Figueroa had left her 2-year-old daughter in the care of her family, who reported her missing several days after she left home.

Jeff Figueroa told ABC7 the day after his daughter’s car was found that her boyfriend had been recently arrested in a murder case and she was known to hang out with gang members. He said he believed some of those acquaintances feared she would become a witness against them, though authorities told “Dateline NBC” that his daughter had refused to cooperate in the investigation.

Her father begged her captors to free her and told the station that he received a text from his daughter the day after she vanished, saying, “Had to leave; love you; be back soon.”

Investigators found no trail of cell phone or credit card use following her disappearance.

Homicide investigators received a tip in 2016 that Figueroa’s remains might be buried off the 11000 block of Pearblossom Highway in Palmdale. But a search by detectives, cadaver scent dogs and coroner’s personnel yielded no results.

The reward, set to expire Aug. 25, will now be available for at least the next 90 days.

Barger asked anyone with additional information about either of these cases to call the sheriff’s homicide bureau at (323) 890-5500 or Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-TIPS (8477).

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