Latest news with #ChicoStateUniversity
NBC News
29-06-2025
- NBC News
Mother of murdered Chico State University student pushes forward despite 4 decades without answers
Jan Miller has been missing a piece of her heart since June 29, 1984. That's the day her daughter, 19-year-old Veronica Perotti, was found brutally murdered in her college apartment. Her case still has not been solved 41 years later. Veronica was Jan's firstborn and her whole world. She named her daughter after the character in the Archie Comics. 'I thought that Veronica, in the comic strip, was just the most beautiful name in the world,' she told Dateline. 'And so, I always said if I ever had a daughter, I would name her Veronica. So I could call her 'Roni.'' 'She was, like, the easiest child ever. She hardly cried. She was just one of those quiet kids. Uh, always knew what was going on. Very, very mischievous. Always could smile at you and be getting into trouble at the same time,' Jan said. Roni was raised in Marin County, California. She grew up to be a kind young woman, always lending a hand to others at school and serving as a mentor to her younger siblings, with whom she had a close relationship. 'Truly a joy to have around,' said Jan. 'The glass was always half full.' In the summer of 1984, Roni was living alone in an apartment in Chico, California. She was enrolled in a nursing program at Chico State University, taking a summer class, and working as a hostess at a local restaurant. According to Jan, some of Roni's friends were going to move in when the fall semester started, and had already visited and brought in some of their belongings. 'And so there was a constant stream of people and girls. Plus she had some very dear friends that also were there going to summer school,' she said. However, Roni was frequently alone in the apartment that summer. According to Jan, Roni was supposed to be at work around noon on June 29, but did not show up. 'Her boss, I guess, called, and she did not answer,' Jan said. She added that the boss then called one of Roni's friends, who rode her bike over to the apartment. The apartment was a two-story, townhouse-style unit. According to Jan, the friend was able to see through the front window that Roni's bedroom door was closed. Hers was the only bedroom on the first floor. The friend then went around the back of the apartment, where she saw Roni on the floor of her bedroom — and started yelling. Some construction workers in the area came over, opened the window, and went inside to find Roni dead. Someone at the scene called 911. Jan was at work that day so she wasn't home when police arrived at the front door to give her the news, but she had a friend staying with her at the time who was at the house. The police left, saying they would return when Jan got home. 'So when I got home and I saw her, I said, 'What is wrong?' I said, you know, 'You — you're a wreck,' Jan remembered telling her friend. 'She said, 'I don't know what's happened,' she said, 'but the police will be here shortly.'' 'So I was already, like, you know, hair was standing up on the back of my neck, and then the knock on the door,' Jan said. 'This young officer, um, you know, identifies himself and he identifies me, and then he says, 'Your daughter is dead.'' 'You go into shock and, you know, you can't believe it,' Jan said. 'And then he tells me she's been murdered.' She was then faced with the unthinkable task of breaking the news to her husband, who was away on business, and her other children, as well as making the arrangements for Roni's funeral. 'She had been brutally beaten to death,' Jan said, adding that the beating was to the point that the mortuary recommended she not open the casket for Roni's funeral. 'I totally lost my mind.' According to Jan, police believed Roni likely knew her killer. 'Probably it was the person came over and she let them in,' she said. Dateline reached out to the Butte County Sheriff's Office (BCSO) for an interview about Roni's case. The Community Relations Director, Megan McCann, told Dateline via email that 'Veronica was found deceased on June 29, 1984 at an apartment complex located in the 800 block of West Second Avenue in Chico.' McCann also stated that 'since this is an active homicide investigation, information we can release is limited.' As time went by, there were still no answers in Roni's murder, but that didn't stop Jan. She became involved in multiple organizations supporting families of murder victims, before starting her own in April of 1994. 'We started Citizens Against Homicide,' she said. They host fundraising events, including an annual golf tournament. The money raised, along with grants, is used to help pay for DNA processing. 'It's expensive and a lot of counties don't have that much money,' Jan said. 'Citizens Against Homicide has helped Butte County with some DNA processing on Roni's case as well as other cases.' Roni's family also awards a scholarship each year at her high school — Marin Catholic High School in Kentfield, California. 'We've been doing it for 41 years, giving out an award to someone that reminds us of Roni. That's --that's the key. We don't care if you need money. We don't care if you're a boy or a girl. We don't care what you're studying. We don't care what your GPA is,' Jan said. When asked what standout qualities in a student would remind them of Roni, Jan answered, 'When she walked into a room, you knew she was there. The smile just lit up the room. Um, she — the glass is always half full. She's very upbeat.' All of her efforts go toward one goal. 'I don't want to forget Roni. I want my grandchildren to know Roni,' Jan explained. Megan McCann from the BCSO described Roni's case as an active homicide investigation. 'BCSO diligently investigates all homicide cases, and in the past few years we've been successful at solving multiple cold cases,' she said in her email. 'BCSO continues to look at emerging technologies, to include advancements in DNA technology to assist in solving cold cases.' In 2009, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a proclamation offering a reward of $50,000 for new information leading to an arrest and conviction in Roni's murder. Anyone with information is asked to contact the BCSO Felony Investigations Unit at 530-538-7671.
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Tehama County Museum Lecture
The Tehama County Museum will host its third lecture on Saturday, May 10 in its 2025 Lecture Series. The presentation will feature Steve Schoonover speaking on 'Before Ishi: The Life and Death of the Yahi,'. Schoonover will be speaking about his book by the same title, which he describes as an effort to unravel the history of the Yahi from the myths that have been woven around Ishi. The presentation will begin at 1 p.m. in the Marty Graffel Annex of the Museum at 275 C St., in the City of Tehama. The Museum will be staffed and open to the public from 1-4 p.m. Admission to both the museum and the presentation is free and donations will be greatly appreciated. Schoonover is a long-time Northern California newsman, spending about 40 years with the Chico Enterprise-Record. A resident of Chico since 1963 and a 1975 graduate of Chico State University. His book is an attempt to reconstruct the history of the Yahi Indians of Northern California, a history the author feels was mangled by a common infatuation with the myths surrounding Ishi, the 'last survivor of the tribe.' The focus on Ishi has allowed the Yahi's remarkable adaptation to a hostile environment to be ignored. The author also believes the facts of the destruction of the tribe have been replaced with yarns which have been widely accepted, even though in his view, they don't make any sense. For decades, Schoonover, aided by his wife and fellow reporter, Laura Urseny, have been in search of Ishi's heritage and the fate of his people, the Yahi. They 'backpacked in 1995 from the Sacramento Valley floor near Red Bluff to Childs Meadow, in a bid to replicate the Yahi annual migration.' Schoonover's dogged investigation of the historical record challenges claims made in books about Ishi, and paints a nuanced picture of gruesome violence against native populations in the mid-1800s in Butte, Tehama and Shasta counties. He attempts to burst the 'Ishi myth,' that he was starving, that he and the Yahi were part of the Mill Creek Indians, 'the last survivor of a tribe that had terrorized Northern California for years. The book focuses on the life of the Yahi and surrounding tribes, and the coming of white settlers. There will be opportunities to ask questions at the end of the presentation. The Tehama County Museum may be reached by phone at (530)384-2595, and by email at tcmuse@
CBS News
06-02-2025
- CBS News
Suspected arsonist admits guilt in historic Bidwell Mansion fire in Chico, officials say
CHICO – The man accused of arson in connection with a fire that destroyed the historic Bidwell Mansion in Chico in December has admitted his guilt, officials said Wednesday. Kevin Carlson, a 30-year-old from Chico, remains in jail without bail and is scheduled to be sentenced on March 5, the Butte County District Attorney's Office announced. Carlson faces up to 11 years in state prison. During the early morning hours of December 11, a Chico State University police dispatcher smelled smoke and saw through a surveillance camera that the 26-room Victorian home had caught fire, prosecutors said. By the time first responders arrived, Bidwell Mansion was fully involved in flames. Surveillance footage captured "a large burst of flames" on the building's north-facing wall shortly after 2 a.m. that day, prosecutors said. Within the following week, investigators determined there were "clear indicators of arson." What surveillance cameras also captured was a suspect running from the area of the burning building and walking through the surrounding neighborhood. Multiple cameras also captured a Toyota Highlander coming into the neighborhood shortly before the fire, and law enforcement officials zeroed in on locating that vehicle and its owner. Investigators eventually were able to track where the registered owner of the vehicle lived and identified the individual as Carlson. Following the fire, Carlson was seen on gas station surveillance footage purchasing water. The district attorney's office said Carlson was easily identifiable in that footage and was wearing the same clothing the suspect in the Bidwell Mansion footage was wearing after the fire had started. While tracing Carlosn's activities before the fire, investigators located surveillance footage of him purchasing a 5-gallon fuel can, duct tape, work gloves garbage cans and a lighter. Following Carlson's arrest on January 2, investigators also matched his GPS coordinates from his phone to the Bidwell Mansion area at the time of the fire, prosecutors said. It was also discovered that Carlson had switched his phone into airplane mode between 1::36 a.m. and 2:35 a.m., which is the timeframe for when the mansion had caught fire and when he would have arrived back at his home. The historic Bidwell Mansion was originally built in the 1860s and, at the time of the fire, was undergoing renovations that the California State Parks said were almost complete. A fundraiser to rebuild the mansion was created and announced in January. CBS Sacramento cannot guarantee that the money donated to fundraiser accounts will be applied for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries. If you are considering donating, you should consult your own advisers and proceed at your own risk.
