Roseville Crime Stoppers is offering a $1,000 cash reward for information leading to the arrest of a suspect in the murder of 19-year-old John Alpert.
On May 15, someone fishing in Dry Creek near Atkinson Street found human remains near the creek bed. Roseville Police detectives and crime scene investigators examined the scene and collected the remains. Roseville detectives worked with the Placer County Sheriff’s Coroner’s Division to identify the deceased person. In late June, the Coroner identified the deceased person as 19-year-old John Paul Alpert of Palmdale, a missing person from Los Angeles County.
By all accounts, John was a responsible and caring young man who had never been in trouble with the law. He lived at home, helping his parents and attending community college. He left Palmdale on March 10 for an adventure–traveling north with a group of freight train riders. He had never illegally ridden the rails before. He communicated with his family every day until March 17, and then all communications stopped. His worried family reported him missing to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office.
Detectives believe that Alpert arrived in Roseville on a freight train between March 16 and 17, where he met his death. His body had unexplained injuries consistent with blunt force trauma, and detectives have classified his death as a homicide.
Anyone who has any information about Alpert’s death, or who saw Alpert in Roseville in mid-March, or had any contact with freight train riders in Roseville around that time is asked to call Roseville Crime Stoppers at (916)783-STOP (783-7867).
