By Mason Stockstill
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies handed out long,
detailed questionnaires to everyone in Dykstra Hall on Monday as
part of their stepped-up efforts to find first-year student Michael
Negrete, missing since December.
The Sheriff’s Department is now leading the investigation,
which had previously been handled solely by UCPD. Nancy Greenstein,
UCPD’s director of community services, said this was because
the Sheriff’s Department has more resources.
Additionally, Sheriff’s deputies said that the situation
with Negrete’s disappearance warranted the use of the
questionnaire to find out if any of Negrete’s neighbors in
Dykstra have any information about his disappearance.
“This is a fairly unique circumstance, with that many
people in the hall, to try to get interviews done without talking
to everybody one by one,” said Sgt. Joe Purcell.
The questionnaire’s cover letter, signed by Sheriff Lee
Baca, states that students are expected to return the surveys
within 10 days. Purcell said that investigators are hoping to get
as much information as possible before the end of the school year,
when many students will return to their homes for the summer.
“We’re hoping that (by) reading that letter,
students will realize how important this is to us,” he
said.
While some students expressed annoyance at having to fill out
the questionnaire during finals, others were thrown by the kind of
questions that were asked.
The questionnaire asked students, “If you were going to
conduct the investigation, how would you do it?” and
“If you were asked to contribute money to a reward fund
regarding the disappearance of Michael Negrete, how much would you
be willing to contribute?” in addition to asking students
flat-out if they know what happened to Negrete.
“I sincerely hope that something comes out of this, that
if someone in Dykstra knows something, this is the best way to
reach them,” said second-year chemistry student Steve Joiner.
“However, to do this six months later and right before finals
week has upset a lot of people.”
But Sgt. Purcell said that the importance of the survey caused
them to distribute it despite potential concerns.
“My partner and I can’t just interview 900 students
in a week and a half,” he said. “We really want
everybody to cooperate.”
With reports from Aaron Hand, Daily Bruin Senior Staff.