Governor’s office announces $50,000 rewards in two unsolved San Diego homicides

The search for answers in two unrelated, unsolved San Diego homicides from five years ago got a boost Friday when Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office announced $50,000 rewards for information that leads to an arrest and conviction.

The victims are Gregory Izik Ruffin Jr., 22, shot on a Lincoln Park sidewalk and Lamontee Stevenson, a 19-year-old Navy sailor killed while breaking up a fight at a Logan Heights house party.

Gregory Ruffin Jr.

(San Diego County Crime Stoppers)

Law enforcement agencies have long been able to petition the governor’s office to help solve cases through reward offers to tipsters. The San Deigo cases are among four that Newsom’s office chose to spotlight last week.

San Diego police homicide Lt. Steve Shebolski said for a case to be considered, investigators must have exhausted all their leads.

“These two cases are at the point that we don’t have any leads to investigate, and we are asking for the public’s help,” Shebloski said.

Navy sailor Lamontee Stevenson

(San Diego County Crime Stoppers)

Police are hoping the large reward will persuade someone to come forward.

“In both of these cases, we are very confident there were witnesses who saw something or know something about it,” Shebloski said.

Ruffin was found shortly after 11 p.m. Feb. 24, 2019, after someone called to report a man down near an apartment complex on 47th Street near Castana Street. Police and paramedics found him lying on the sidewalk. He had been shot in his upper body, and died at the scene.

In a nearly 3-minute YouTube video highlighting the case, San Diego police said Ruffin had visited a friend at the Creekside Villas. While on the sidewalk as he left the complex, someone opened fire on him, shooting multiple rounds. One bullet hit him.

In the video, Ruffin’s father Greg said the impact of the death of his son — who he referred to as Izik, his middle name — was traumatic. “So many questions as to why something senseless like this takes place when he wasn’t involved in any gang activity,” the father said.

Stevenson, a Navy sailor, was fatally shot Aug. 17, 2019, at a house party on Marcy Avenue near Kearney Avenue. San Diego police said Stevenson’s friend got into an argument with a man at the party and the fight turned physical. When Stevenson tried to stop it, the man shot Stevenson multiple times. The gunman ran off.

Known as “Montee,” Stevenson was from Akron, Ohio. He was a standout high school football player, lettering three years straight, and winning the city championships twice, according to his obituary. He graduated high school in 2018. Before the year was out, he enlisted.

In the days after Stevenson was killed, East High School football coach Marques Hayes told the Akron Beacon Journal that Stevenson never got into trouble, that he was “(j)ust a fun loving guy, a fun loving spirit, you know — always smiling.”

The paper reported that Stevenson’s death came a little more than two years after his 24-year-old brother was fatally shot outside his Akron home.

Anyone with information about either Ruffin or Stevenson’s deaths was asked to contact San Diego police Detective Sgt. Geoff DeCesari with the department’s Homicide Unit at (619) 531-2943.

Anonymous tips can be shared by calling Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477 or online at sdcrimestoppers.org.