In 1995 things were unstable in my household, and I was repeating the seventh grade, which means very little now but at the time was an issue, especially for some of my family members. if anything it was indicative of how much I applied myself to most things, outside of my friends and the park.

Junior High School, like many things in my life, I view it as a mixed bag of sentiment, and to paraphrase Dickens, that whole era and beyond was the best of times while being the worst of times. There are always occurrences that put things into perspective, particularly in hindsight, and as unpleasant as aspects of your life might seem or actually be, it could always be worse. I know it’s tough, but try to look for the good.

There is never a shortage of tragedy or hardship, and one incredibly horrendous atrocity dubbed the College Point Massacre shocked our community that winter. I didn’t know those three girls who went to J.H.S. 185 personally, They were older than me but I remembered seeing them around the school and the surrounding area. We would have mutual friends, people I didn’t quite know yet but in time I would regard them as family, and it’s strange to think that had their lives not been cut short maybe I might have gotten to know them in time as well. You never how life will play out and some things you can never foresee.

On the night of Jan 6th and into the early hours, Saul Angulo, 20 and his uncle, Enrique Rodriguez, 28, and Richard Iasasi, 40, entered the second floor apartment of the Skyline Terrace complex in College Point armed with guns. The apartment belonged to Maria Esperanza Ramirez, 42, and her boyfriend Alex DeJesus Calle Soto 29, with her two daughters, Carla and Paola Lopez, 15 and 17. Paola was also five months pregnant at the time. (It should noted that I have found discrepancies regarding certain names. So pardon any errors.)

Carla and Paola, according to an article from the New York Times, were home with their friend, Melinda Wynns, 16, when the men arrived, they were held captive at gunpoint. Ana Figueroa, 19, arrived at the apartment around 11:00pm, Carla answered the door visibly shaken, and the four teens were escorted to the master bedroom where they sat on the bed, crying. The girls had planned to head to a teen night at a club in Astoria followed by a sleepover at the residence.

Mrs. Ramirez, Mr. Calle Soto and his cousin Pablo Villaneuva, 29, arrived back home at approximately 12:30, which resulted in heated arguments with the gunmen. The ordeal was proposed to be about a loan of $15,000, but there is probably more to that story, another account proclaimed that Calle Soto threatened the life of Angulo, and this was retaliation. The girls were ordered to help search for money, and told to offer up any jewelry they might have, and then they were shuffled around the apartment room to room while they listened to Mrs. Ramirez, Mr. Calle Soto and Mr. Villaneuva being executed.

During a seven hour span the seven victims were terrorized, then bound, shot, stabbed, choked and slashed. The sole survivor was Ana Figueroa, thrown into a closet to die, after getting shot in the face by Angulo, the bullet lodging behind her ear, and if that wasn’t cruel enough, Rodriguez then cut her throat. Ms. Figueroa, regained consciousness and ran from the closet and jumped from a second story balcony to get help by alerting a neighbor, which she had to write with a pen and paper “6 more dead”, because she couldn’t speak due to damage to her trachea and voice box which she underwent emergency surgery to repair. The human will to survive is astounding. Poor girl.

Ms. Figueroa was instrumental for the prosecution of Enrique Rodriguez and Saul Angulo who were tried together, and the jury had her testimony read back a second time. Detective Raymond Berke got emotional on the stand testifying to what he witnessed when responding to Ana in Booth Memorial Hospital the following morning. Rodriguez was convicted after six hours of deliberation on six counts of intentional murder, four counts of felony murder, one count of attempted murder, five counts of robbery and two counts of weapons possession. Rodriguez and Angulo, were each sentenced to 170 years in prison.

Richard Iasasi was not immediately apprehended, he fled to Mexico where detectives apprehended him and extradited back to NYC. Iasasi confessed in a written statement to murdering the men but was adamant he had no part in the slaughtering of the woman. Iasasi was also sentenced to 170 plus years for a plethora of charges, serving six consecutive indeterminate twenty-five to life sentences. He motioned for an appeal on 2004, saying that his was not read his Miranda rights and his extradition was improper, which were denied. Rot on.

If a truly tragic incident from back in day can cross my mind, I can only imagine how heartbreaking and unforgettable it must be for the relatives of the victims, and for Ana Figueroa, herself. Even now, almost three decades later, I hope their memories are kept alight, and that those close have found a sliver of solace over the years.