The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors this week upped its offer to $20,000 in exchange for help locating a hit-and-run driver who crashed into a North Long Beach apartment more than three years ago, killing a man and his 3-year-old daughter.
Police say Octavio Montano Islas was drunk when he crashed a 2014 Dodge Ram pickup truck into a studio apartment near the intersection of Artesia Boulevard and Rose Avenue around 10 p.m. on March 1, 2022.
Montano Islas, who was 24 at the time, allegedly fled on foot after the crash that killed 42-year-old Jose Palacios-Gonzalez and 3-year-old Samantha Palacios.
Jose was pronounced dead at the scene. Neighbors got Samantha out of the rubble, but she died from her injuries at a hospital a short time later.
In an interview with the Long Beach Post, Esnelia Palacios described watching in horror as the truck pinned her husband and her daughter underneath.
In April 2023, LBPD posted a video featuring Esnelia Palacios pleading for the public’s help in locating the suspected hit-and-run driver.
A search warrant filed shortly after the crash revealed that Montano Islas was visiting a bikini sports bar, Bottoms Up Tavern, that night with his brother, Irwin, to whom the pickup truck was registered.
Bottoms Up shuttered at the end of July 2022 after the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control accused the bar of 23 violations unrelated to the crash. They included multiple counts of allowing lewd conduct and drug activity.
This week, the county Board of Supervisors unanimously approved Supervisor Janice Hahn’s motion to double the amount offered in January, from $10,000 to $20,000.
“On top of the unimaginable pain of losing a father and his young daughter, Jose and Samantha’s loved ones have had to live with the frustration of knowing who was responsible for their deaths but still being denied justice,” Hahn said in a statement.
Montano Islas was described as a 5-foot-8-inch-tall Hispanic man who weighs 160 pounds, with black hair, brown eyes and a sleeve of tattoos on his right forearm.
Officials urge anyone with information on Islas’ whereabouts to call LBPD Detective Scott Jenson at 562-570-7218.