Christopher Flicker
Over 30 of our local scouts helped the Children’s Discovery Museum of the Desert with their tortoise habitat. Our chief photographer, Christopher Flicker, brings us this story.
City News Service
INDIO, Calif. (KESQ) – A pool serviceman who fatally beat a 93-year-old Palm Desert woman while trying to steal from her was convicted today of second-degree murder and other charges.
An Indio jury deliberated about two days before finding Benjamin Cabrera Briones, 62, of Thousand Palms, guilty of the murder count, as well as burglary and forgery. The panel acquitted him of special circumstance allegations of killing in the course of a robbery and murder for financial gain in the 2021 death of Jean Grace Willrich.
Riverside County Superior Court Judge Anthony Villalobos scheduled a sentencing hearing for May 30 at the Larson Justice Center.
Briones is being held without bail at the Benoit Detention Center.
The District Attorney’s Office had sought a first-degree murder conviction, but jurors were unconvinced that Briones had planned to kill Willrich ahead of time.
“She suffered massive blunt force trauma to her face,” Deputy District Attorney Hawlee Valente said during her closing argument Thursday. “He beat her, bludgeoned her repeatedly. He applied all of his body weight on her collar bone. That’s intent to kill.”
Briones, who was both a pool serviceman and general handyman, had gone to the residence on the pretext of fixing a toilet. The prosecution, however, argued that his real motivation was theft.
“He intended to defraud, and the victim was an easy target,” Valente said.
On Nov. 29, 2021, the defendant arrived in his work truck clearly marked “Briones Pools” at the victim’s house in the 77000 block of Michigan Drive at 6:20 a.m. and remained for almost exactly 50 minutes — a time frame that sheriff’s detectives were able to confirm relying on tape from security surveillance video cameras at neighbors’ properties, according to the prosecution.
Valente said he wore latex gloves during and after the murder. Pieces of the gloves were located inside the house.
After leaving the property, Briones drove to an ATM outside an Albertson’s supermarket and deposited one of her checks into his business account, according to the prosecution.
Deputy Public Defender Richard Verlato acknowledged “there’s no question Mr. Briones is guilty of the fraudulent check,” but he challenged the prosecution’s contention that his client was “guilty beyond a reasonable doubt” of killing for financial gain.
The attorney asserted Briones did not have an intent to kill when he arrived at the home — to which he’d been invited — but in the course of speaking with Willrich, “he freaked out,” causing him to lose control and fatally assault the woman, for whom he had once worked to maintain her pool until she fired him over a payment dispute.
“It’s inconclusive how much pressure he applied to her,” Verlato said.
On Nov. 30, 2021, a concerned friend, Patricia McDonald, went to the victim’s house and used a spare key to enter, finding the victim “laying in a puddle of dried blood, her face swollen,” according to trial testimony.
Sheriff’s Investigator Gustavo Castaneda testified previously that during an interview with Briones, the defendant admitted turning hostile when Willrich started questioning why he was walking around her home and not fixing the toilet.
“That’s when he proceeded to assault her,” Castaneda said. “Mr. Briones explained to us how he punched her, choked her and eventually got on top of her. He continued to punch her, hit her with both open and closed fists because she wouldn’t stop screaming. When she stopped moving, he got up, grabbed (her) checks and left.”
Valente said after a search warrant was executed at the defendant’s residence, blood-stained shoes, a shirt, pants and other items of evidentiary value were seized. A notepad bearing names and addresses was also located, and “Willrich’s name and address were the only ones crossed out,” the deputy district attorney said.
Briones was arrested without incident on Dec. 3, 2021, during a traffic stop near Bob Hope and Frank Sinatra drives in Rancho Mirage.
The defendant had no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.
Jesus Reyes
Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this article had the two people killed were siblings. This was not correct. The people were a mother and her son. The article has been updated with the correct information
BANNING, Calif. (KESQ) – A mother and son were killed in a house fire that also left two people injured, authorities said today.
Chris and Dora Palacios, who were reportedly mother and son, were fatally injured in the blaze shortly before 5 a.m. Saturday on John Street, near Hargrave Street, just south of Interstate 10.
According to the Riverside County Fire Department, six engine crews were sent to the blaze at 4:50 a.m. and encountered smoke and flames emanating from the single-story house.
Firefighters deployed to prevent the blaze from spreading to surrounding properties and encountered two people who had evacuated from the residence, suffering unspecified non-life-threatening injuries, officials said.
“There was a double fatality. The victims were discovered by fire personnel,” county fire department spokeswoman Maggie Cline de La Rosa told City News Service.
She said the blaze was completely knocked down at 5:20 a.m.
The two occupants who had evacuated from the property, neither of whom was identified, utilized their own transportation to go to a nearby hospital for treatment, according to the fire department.
Cal Fire investigators were summoned to identify the exact source of the blaze, which had not been confirmed as of Monday. There was no word regarding why Chris and Dora Palacios were unable to escape the flames.
“I’m reaching out to everyone to help us in this difficult time,” the victims’ relative, Daniel Palacios, wrote in a GoFundMe account started to raise money for the victims’ funeral. “This is a tough time for us all. Anything helps — prayers, donations.”
The account can be found at https://www.gofundme.com/f/fund-for-dora-and-chriss-final-farewell?cdn cache=0.
It had raised roughly $8,500 as of Monday afternoon.
A public candlelight vigil was planned for Chris and Dora Palacios at 6:30 p.m. Monday at 638 E. John St., Banning.
Funeral arrangements were pending.
Jesus Reyes
INDIO, Calif. (KESQ) – The city of Indio has fined Goldenvoice $20,000 after one of Coachella’s closing sets broke curfew rules.
City officials told News Channel 3 that the festival broke curfew rules by three minutes on Saturday, April 12. TMZ reports that the fine was for Travis Scott’s set, which started late following a fireworks accident during Green Day’s set.
It was the only fine issued across all three weekends, city officials confirmed.
The fines stem from a contract agreement between Goldenvoice and the City of Indio reached in 2013 where organizers get fined $20,000 if sets go five minutes past curfew, with additional fines of $1,000 for every minute afterward.
The curfews for Friday and Saturday are set for 1 a.m. while the curfew for Sunday is set for midnight.
It’s far from the first time the city has fined festival organizers for curfew rules.
In 2024, Goldenvoice was fined $28,000 after Lana Del Rey’s headlining set went 13 minutes over during her performance on Friday.
In 2023, Indio issued a $117,000 fine after all three Weekend 1 headliners, Frank Ocean, Bad Bunny, and Calvin Harris went over their performance times. Frank Ocean went over his curfew by an estimated 25 minutes after starting his set about an hour late.
Jesus Reyes
LANCASTER, Calif. (KESQ) – A man convicted of a murder in the Coachella Valley was accused of killing a convicted rapist Sunday night at California State Prison, Los Angeles County, in Lancaster.
The incident happened Sunday at approximately 7:15 p.m., according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
CDCR officials said staff reported seeing Kenneth M. Wilson, 30, attack inmate Renee A. Rodriguez, 51, in the dayroom. Staff responded, quelling the attack by utilizing “chemical agents and non-lethal weapons.”
Officers immediately initiated life-saving measures on Rodriguez and activated 911. Rodriguez was transported to an outside medical facility, where he was pronounced dead.
Two improvised weapons were recovered at the scene, CDCR said.
The death is being investigated as a homicide. The Los Angeles County Coroner will determine Rodriguez’s official cause of death.
Wilson has been placed in restricted housing pending an investigation by the LAC Investigative Services Unit and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Wilson was sent from Riverside County in Feb. 2020. He, along with another man, were convicted of the murder of Ryan Sniffin, 20, of Joshua Tree, after a botched drug deal in the La Quinta cove in Jan. 2015.
Kenneth Wilson (2015)
Wilson was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for first-degree murder with an enhancement for being armed with a firearm
Rodriguez was most recently received from Los Angeles County on May 7, 2001. He was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole for rape with force/violence/fear of bodily injury. While incarcerated, he was convicted twice of possession/manufacture of a deadly weapon by an incarcerated person, an in-prison offense by a second striker, sentenced by Monterey County on Oct. 8, 2008, to four years, and by Fresno County on May 13, 2014, to two years.
City News Service
PALM DESERT, Calif. (KESQ) – Cal State San Bernardino’s Palm Desert Campus will break ground next week on a Student Services Building, funded in part by a $79 million state budget allocation.
“This groundbreaking is a reflection of our continued commitment to student success,” CSUSB President Tomás D. Morales said in a statement. “The new Student Services Building will serve as a hub for resources that empower students to thrive academically, socially and professionally.”
The groundbreaking ceremony will be held at 9:30 a.m. May 9 at the Palm Desert campus, 37500 Cook St. University officials, local dignitaries, community partners and campus supporters are among those expected to attend.
The 23,700-square-foot building, expected to be completed in 2026 or 2027, will include an advising/tutoring center, career center, expanded campus library, group study space, a cross cultural center, campus bookstore, food services, a student health center and a recreation and wellness center.
“The Student Services Building is set to transform the student experience and strengthen our ability to attract and retain local talent,” Edna Martinez, associate vice president and administrator at the Palm Desert campus, said in a statement.
Tori King
MECCA, Calif. (KESQ)– Each and every year, thousands of music fans descend upon the desert to attend both Stagecoach and Coachella. Last year, 250,000 tickets were sold for the 2024 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and Stagecoach Country Music Festival, according to attendance data provided to News Channel Three by the city of Indio, but 2025 was expected to have an even higher turnout.
Higher attendance also leads to more items being left behind. With so many people in town, its easy to misplace items, especially enjoying the performances out at the Empire Polo Club. Most of those items end up at the festival’s lost and found. But what happens to the 60,000-70,000 pounds of junk that campers get rid of at Stagecoach and Coachella every year?
In order to find that answer, all you have to do is ask Lupe Torres Hilario. She’s the Director of Operations at the Galilee Center in Mecca. Over the past six years, her organization has partnered with Goldenvoice, the creators of the music festivals, to solve the ‘lost and found’ problem. They work together to make sure perfectly good items don’t go to waste.
News Channel Three’s Tori King visited the Galilee Center in Mecca to see the process from start to finish.
“So these are not like Prada sunglasses or diamond earrings being left behind, I mean, this is stuff that people deliberately left behind that they did not want to take home,” asked News Channel Three’s Tori King.
“Yeah, that’s correct, we don’t get none of that,” that Hilario. “The only stuff that we get is what campers use to spend the night that they don’t want to take back with them, things that they don’t want, or they don’t need it. Toothpaste, cots, beds, blankets, pillows, inflatable pools. That’s the stuff we bring back.”
Items are sorted at the center, cleaned and are first given to those in need.
“A lot of the sleeping bags are used for most of the homeless people that come in and ask us for something to keep them warm wherever they need to spend the night,” said Hilario. “We do also give back to families in need that come in with a clothing voucher. We do give them whatever they need with a clothing voucher.”
Whatever is left, is marked with a price and then sold at the Galilee Center Thrift Store.
“Everything gets sold, and all of the the profits go towards funding our programs,” said Hilario. “Those programs include our rental assistance, utility assistance, our food program, which is feeding 450 families each each week, and our our infant services. We give out 500 diapers to infants once a month. So you can give back to the community by purchasing from our store.”
Hilario hopes the partnership between the center and Goldenvoice continue for years to come.
“We try to help the community any way we can, and we would love to keep doing it,” said Hilario.
For more information on the Galilee Center, or any of its programs or thrift stores, click here.
Gavin Nguyen
Update 4/29/25:
Court Moe tells News Channel 3 that after our report on April 28th, SCE visited his home and installed the switch.
Original 4/28/25
DESERT HOT SPRINGS, Calif. (KESQ) – One Desert Hot Springs resident is voicing his concern with Southern California Edison after waiting months to turn his solar system online.
Court Moe, of Desert Hot Springs, says Cosmic Solar & Roofing, the solar company he contracted, finished installing the solar panel and batteries in late February. They told him within the next two to three weeks, they would receive approval to connect the solar panels to the grid, and Southern California Edison would install a switch to allow the system to be turned online.
According to Cosmic Solar & Roofing’s Chief Operating Officer, Pey Shadzi, they have been waiting on a “Tesla Backup Switch” (a meter collar) that connects the Tesla Powerwall battery they installed to the home and electrical grid.
Shadzi says Southern California Edison is the only authorized entity in the area to install the meter collar. Until it is installed, Shadzi’s solar company isn’t able to finalize the project or inspect it with Riverside County.
“I expected it to be two or three weeks before Edison would hook us up. And now it’s over a little over two months and still, no, not hooked up,” Moe recounts.
Moe says there needs to be improvements when it comes to communication with Edison. He says he’s reached out to the utility via email and phone several times since February to inquire about the status of his system, but hasn’t heard back.
“Any other business or agency … I mean, I can call the IRS or the state anything in the state, and I get an answer. And most employees are very happy to help. Why don’t they have somebody you can talk to?” Moe asks.
Cosmic Solar also reached out by leaving voicemails at Edison’s help line; they only received a reply last week. According to the solar company, Edison said they tried to install the meter collar in February, but were unable to complete the installation. Shadzi writes, “they tried to come out to install the meter collar but could not, ‘probably because of meter access issues.'”
“There are absolutely no meter access issues here on site. The Edison meter is on the front side of the house and completely available from the street. No dogs, gates or obstructions are present on this property,” Shadzi continues in a statement to KESQ.
News Channel Three reached out to Southern California Edison. A spokesman for the power company says it is launching an investigation into this issue, but says it will likely take several days before any findings can be released.
Stay with us for the latest updates on what the cause of the issue may be – and for the status of Moe’s solar panel system.
Garrett Hottle
PALM SPRINGS, California (KESQ) – A new civil rights monument honoring the LGBTQ+ community is coming to Palm Springs.
A special media preview of the Pride Monument is set for Monday, April 28, 2025, at 1 p.m. at the Thompson Hotel’s Whisky Park Terrace.
Organizers say the sculpture will serve as a lasting tribute to the contributions of the LGBTQ+ community and its allies in Greater Palm Springs. It’s also designed to act as a beacon of hope for future generations and a powerful educational tool about the community’s rich history and culture.
The event will feature presentations from Ron deHarte, president and CEO of Palm Springs Pride; Al Jones, president of the Monument Board of Directors; and Jim Isermann, the artist behind the design.
For more information on the monument, visit pspride.org/monument.
Luis Avila
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. (KESQ) – It’s been a tough stretch for ride share drivers, as strong winds and road closures disrupt trips across the region. Longer drive times affecting their ability to find and pick up passengers on time.
But some drivers are now being penalized for it, and seeing hits to their earnings as a result.
Suzanne Golas, a local ride share driver, received a notice from Lyft, stating post-ride increases will not be added to her fare in cases where the trip is longer than estimated.
“I got several messages from one of the ride share companies that my rides were taking too long and they thought I was doing something fraudulent to increase the fair which I tried to explain to them.”
Suzanne Golas, ride share driver
News Channel 3 reached out to Lyft. A representative says they have reached out to the driver and are now looking into the matter.
As for ongoing road closures, Golas says the recently approved contract for the Gene Autry wind wall project is a step in the right direction, but more work is needed.
Stay with News Channel 3 for more.
