"We are still in shock, and we just can't believe it's finally happened."
It's been more than 20 years since Heidi Plummer's toddler nephew and his uncle were fatally shot in Normal Heights, but it was clear talking to her Friday that the wounds are still fresh.
Twenty-year-old Michael Plummer; his girlfriend, Adah Pearson, 18; and his nephew, 21-month-old Julio Rangel, were all mortally wounded the night of Sept. 4, 2000, in the 4500 block of Bancroft Street. Police suspect the slayings resulted from a drug deal gone bad.
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San Diego police said their alleged killer, Sergio Lopez Contreras, 44, was booked into San Diego Central Jail this week. At his arraignment on Friday, he pleaded not guilty, via teleconference, to the three counts of first-degree murder he faces.
Before Contreras was due for his arraignment, Plummer's sister Heidi relived learning this week that Contreras, who she said she saw the day of the killings, was in custody in San Diego.
“We were all in shock," Plummer said outside the downtown courthouse on Friday. "It's still been a big process. We are still nervous and waiting to see what's going to happen — and hopefully get justice,” adding "there's unanswered questions, and we are all waiting for those answers. They said, he said, she said, but not everything has been laid out of what's the truth of what happened that night."
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For Plummer, Contreras and his whereabouts have never been far from her mind.
“We just kept thinking that he was wandering free, and we just wanted him to be caught," Plummer said. "It's been hard on all of us.”
Contreras was believed to have fled to Mexico following the shooting, where he was eventually arrested on unrelated charges. He was extradited to San Diego this week.
"I kept thinking in the back of my head: 'Is he out there? What is he doing? Did he get killed?' " Plummer recalled. "And we are just, like, waiting for him, waiting to see what happened.”
Plummer said she and her family feel the loss of her brother and "baby Julito," and said she and her family are "missing them every day."
“Yeah, we miss him so much," Plummer said Friday about Julito. "He was a character of his own. He was our baby," also telling NBC 7, "I hope [Contreras] understands what he did … he killed an innocent child. And I hope he gets his justice. I hope we get our justice for him to be put away.”
Plummer said she's grateful for law enforcement's persistence in working the case.
“I just want to give them a big hug," an emotional Plummer told NBC 7, "and to thank them for doing this. It's been a hard journey for all of us."
Contreras remains in jail, where he is being held without bail. He's due back in court in April.
With reporting from NBC 7's Jackie Crea — Ed.
