SACRAMENTO, CA (MPG) - A  life cut short at the hands of another brings a unique type of suffering. Murder victims’ families must navigate the justice system while grief stricken and readjusting their lives. On a breezy spring afternoon in April at William Chorley Park, next to Bing Maloney Golf Course, survivors of violent crimes came out to share resources, support others, and honor their loved ones. 

Joyce Tuhn lost her daughter, Lacy, to a drunk driver in January 1999. The convicted juvenile served 11 months at a boys’ camp. Tuhn was a tough Stockton ironworker, yet the tragedy broke her steely exterior. 

 “I was a very angry person,” she said. 

Tuhn connected with the D.A.’s office and founded Victims of Violent Crimes. She has made it their mission to support other families of homicide and support them through the justice system. 

“When victims’ families go to court, they don’t understand the laws. We explain it to them,” Tuhn said. “We make sure they have transportation to and from court and that they get lunch.” 

Tuhn sleeps with her phone at her bedside because she never knows when someone needs an ear. 

Tuhn and her co-founder, Kaysie Biagini, help victims’ families talk, cry, rant and heal. 

“It’s exhausting,” Tuhn said. “But at the end of the day, it’s worth it.”

Leticia Galvan and Tuhn know each other as grieving mothers and through their advocacy. Galvan founded the Rewards for Justice organization. In 2016, her son, Luis, was murdered in Lodi. His killer was sentenced to nine years in state prison. Galvan wanted to help other families get justice, too. 

“We work with Crime Stoppers to increase rewards for unsolved homicides, hoping they will lead to an arrest,” Galvan said.

Her fundraising boosted a reward to $10,000 for a 2018 cold case, according to Galvan. 

With the support of a private donor, billboard trucks display victims’ information and the rewards offered. 

“When the truck drives around, someone knows about those homicides; we are hoping and praying they come forward,” Galvan said.

Donald Vaughn, chief deputy DA Special Operations in Stockton, stops to hug Tuhn, who said, “If I have any questions, I can always call Donald. The D.A.’s office is like family. They care.” 

Vaughn is grateful for what these organizations do. 

 “What victims go through needs to be brought to light. I was a homicide prosecutor and got to know families for two to three years,” Vaughn said. “We do our part to ensure justice but I have to move on once the case is finished. Victimization doesn’t end when the case is over. People like Joyce provide the long-term support these families need.”

Justice reform is a popular topic these days. Vaughn said that “some good has come out of it but people should question” how it has served the victims and their families. 

“When I first started, I could say how long the murderer was going to prison,” Vaughn said. “Now, with the changes in the law, I have to tell them I don’t know.”

In California, voters passed Proposition 57 in 2016 to stop prison overcrowding and support early release. In 2014, Prop. 47 passed. Some justice system professionals say the legislation has done more harm than good. Because of these changes, previously completed cases are going back to court. When a prisoner is up for early parole, some families’ emotional wounds are reopened and the trauma continues. 

If the public wants to help victims’ families, Tuhn said, they can pay attention when voting. 

“A law can sound good, but read the fine print before you vote,” Tuhn said. “They make it sound like it’s something it’s not.”

And one of the biggest concerns of families is their loved ones will be forgotten. 

Paula Gardner and Rachel Benavidez continue to seek justice while supporting others. They founded Survivors’ Way, which raises funds to create memory murals in public spaces. 

“The murals give families a space to breathe,” Gardner said.

Michelle Benavidez, Benavidez’s daughter, was brutally raped and murdered while waiting at the Florin light rail station on May 14, 2021. Benavidez’s memory mural is at the corner of Arden Way and Del Paso Boulevard in Sacramento. 

“I think people believe this only happens in bad areas, but it happens in every area,” said Michelle’s aunt, Paula Gardner. “For us, it was tragic; we didn’t know how to proceed with life. It took our family eight months to get any information about Michelle’s murder.” 

Gardner said her organization provides “guidance through the process and keep families from feeling stuck like we did.” 

To learn more about these organizations, visit their websites at Survivor’s Media, survivorsway.org; Luis G. Alvarez Jr., Rewards for Justice, Inc. atlgajfoundation.org; Victims of Violent Crimes Support Group atvictimsofviolentcrimes.org; and Parents of Murdered Children at pomc.org.