Law enforcement officials announced Wednesday that they are offering a $20,000 reward in the search for two men who beat and a driver who ran over a Marine in the Los Angeles area in May.
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department officers responded to a scene around 2 a.m. on May 28 in Bellflower, California, a city in southeast Los Angeles County, where they found the body of 42-year-old Peter Chounthala, an active-duty Marine assigned to the Wounded Warrior Battalion.
Chounthala had been badly beaten and then run over by a car, and was pronounced dead at the scene. It was not immediately clear where he was stationed or what rank he held. The vehicle was described as a 2021-2023 dark-colored Kia K5.
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Chounthala is survived by his wife and their 3-year-old son, according to the sheriff's department, which delivered a press briefing alongside the Marine's family this week.
Jurina Chounthala, his wife, said that "he was everything to me. … He's like the glue that held all of us together," referencing his family and friends.
She described him as "just the best dad" and a "dedicated Marine."
"We are truly burdened by life and death," Witpha Chounthala, the Marine's sister, said at the press conference. "Peter was loved by many. He was a father, a husband, a brother, an uncle, a friend and a Marine."
Witpha said that Chounthala joined the Marine Corps in 2008, adding that he planned to retire from the service at the end of the year. He had deployed to Afghanistan, according to the sheriff's department.
Homicide investigators believe that there are witnesses who saw the Marine beaten and then run over, and are urging them to come forward with information. They believe those witnesses may know the suspects' identities, an official said.
"Investigators believe that Mr. Chounthala was an innocent victim of these senseless acts of violence," Lt. Patricia Thomas, a Los Angeles County law enforcement official, said Wednesday at the press conference.
Thomas added that Chounthala's cause of death was blunt force trauma and that he suffered injuries to the upper torso.
Investigators canvassed the area and reviewed security camera footage. The men involved in the assault were last seen walking toward a parking lot in the area. The motorist was seen fleeing the scene.
"Failure is not an option," Witpha said. "It may take one day or 100 years, but believe me, they will find you no matter where you are, how far you go, or how long you run. You will not escape, and you cannot escape. Please do the right thing and come forward and turn yourself in."
Law enforcement said that information can be submitted to detectives at 323-890-5500 or to Crime Stoppers at 800-222-6477.
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