25 years after their daughter was killed, Denise Huber's parents say time helps -- but only to an extent

I started working at Guitar Center in Fountain Valley California back in 1994 and became friends with Jeff Huber, after meeting him the first time we became best friends right away. He was a really talented musician with a great sense of humor, our personalities clicked right away but there was a dark sadness about him that could be felt but was not talked about.

We went to lunch every day together and joked around and talked about everything together and would hang out after work too, we would support each others music and show up for gigs the other had and formed a really tight bond. I would have never thought that his family had a past that was unlike any other person I had ever met.

One day while eating lunch he told me they found his sister's killer and her body. My jaw hit the floor. I asked him what he was talking about and he explained the whole story to me. In 1991 his sister Denise went to a Morrissey concert in Inglewood and while driving home her tire blew out while driving on the 73 toll road near their home in Newport Beach, after not returning his parents starting calling everyone to find out where she was, she was a really good girl and was not the type of person to stay out all night without a phone call. The police found her car on the side of the freeway and this was the only clue she left.

Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months, months turned into years and the investigation was set aside when nothing turned up. I could not believe what my friend was telling me, It was a nightmare for me to hear this and I understood immediately the darkness I felt in him since I had met him. He went on to tell me he had to deal with a bunch of court proceedings and the press and all the emotions that came up for the family, It was a lot for him to handle. I remember him feeling a bit of closure when the monster was convicted and things seemed to slowly settle down. I did not follow anything in the news about this and had no idea of the details beyond what he told me.

I have not seen my friend Jeff for over 10 years, we both were having difficult times in 2005 and the last time we hung out was during thanksgiving time, he was planning on moving out of state and we said our goodbyes. I looked for him on facebook for years and couldn't find him, I google searched him and no luck there either. I got it in my head to search for the murder details and was horrified by the story I read.

The short story is a man that posed as an off duty police officer found her stranded on the side of the freeway at 2 am and raped and killed her at his warehouse in Laguna Hills. He kept her body in a fridge for years and when he moved to Arizona years later he took the body with him. He was selling paint in Arizona to a lady that was drawn to the moving truck that held the fridge and called the police where they discovered the body and began the uprooting of my friend's life once again. There was a murder conviction and a death sentence imposed which has still not happened.

Tonight I found an article I hadn't seen before and found his Mom's name, I was able to find her facebook page and asked about Jeff and if he is alright, I am anxiously waiting her reply and I hope everything is ok for him and his family. I look at the family photo and see the same normal family I grew up in the 70's and still to this day can't believe what they have been through, this is one of the most heinous crimes to ever occur in Orange County's history and I hope my friend and I will be reunited soon and all is well.
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The wound that never heals

25 years after their daughter was killed, Denise Huber's parents say time helps -- but only to an extent