A memorial motorcycle ride is set for Sunday on Mount Soledad
SAN DIEGO — Friends and family of Barry and Carol Sandberg want to keep their memory alive, and find out who killed them.
It was five years ago, on May 7, 2009, that San Diego police found the slain couple in their Bay Park home. Their Harley-Davidson motorcycle and other valuables had been stolen.
Every year since then, friends have held a memorial motorcycle ride in honor of the Sandbergs. This year it will begin at 1 p.m. Sunday on Mount Soledad.
Riders will travel to San Diego Harley-Davidson on Morena Boulevard, where shop owner “New York Myke” Shelby will host a free barbecue. The public is invited.
“You’ve got a retired couple in their own home, they don’t owe anyone, and they were robbed and murdered in the middle of the night, and all their valuable possessions were hauled off,” said JD Dolinger, a longtime friend of the Sandbergs.
“No one’s ever been charged with it. We’re not going to forget. We’re not going to let this case get cold.”
Dolinger, who helped organize the memorial ride, said he met the couple 25 years ago through a nationwide motorcycle rights organization.
Homicide unit Lt. Manny Del Toro said he’ll be at the memorial along with a lead detective on the case, and hopes publicity for the event will generate some tips.
“We have no working theories at this time,” Del Toro said in a recent interview. “This is a whodunit-type crime. We haven’t been able to generate any leads.”
The Governor’s office has put up a $50,000 reward, added to a $1,000 Crime Stoppers reward for information leading to a conviction in the case.
Police have never revealed how the couple were killed, for investigative reasons.
Carol’s sister, Jennifer Doty, 67, of Spring Valley, said she believes the pair were killed the night of May 2 or early the next day, since they failed to turn up for a Saturday night party or for a Sunday motorcycle ride with friends.
That weekend was their anniversary and Barry’s 63rd birthday.
Doty’s mother tried to call Carol several times, then asked a girlfriend to check on her. On May 7, the friend called police and asked them to check the home.
Doty said Carol, 60, was born in San Diego, graduated from Hoover High School, and worked as a secretary for several companies. She met Barry when she worked at Genie Bail Bonds and he was a customer, Doty said.
She said Barry, a New Yorker who came to San Diego with his parents, had some trouble in his life. Del Toro said Sandberg had been arrested more than once, including for battery.
Dolinger said Sandberg made a good living refinishing yachts, piloting people to Catalina, and investing. Sandberg had joined a sobriety program, “found Jesus and was doing really well,” Dolinger said. “They lived a great life.”
Anyone with information on the case can call the homicide unit at (619) 531-2293 or Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477.