Stephen Chacko, 39, was killed on November 4, 1997, during a robbery at MFL Liquor and Tobacco in Stockton, California, a store he co-owned. Witness descriptions later linked the crime to a vehicle associated with 35-year-old tow-truck driver Louis James Peoples.

Peoples’ actions were tied to a series of shootings over a short period in Stockton. Investigators recovered a .40-caliber handgun believed to be used in the murders and found a map in Peoples’ apartment that marked potential future targets. The spree included the October 29 killing of 29-year-old tow-truck driver James Loper and, on November 11, the murders of 56-year-old grocer Besun Yu and 46-year-old Jun Gao during a robbery at Village Oaks Market. All incidents occurred within about five miles of Peoples’ North Stockton home.

Peoples was arrested and charged with four counts of murder and one count of bank robbery; a jury later convicted him of first-degree murder for the deaths of Chacko, Loper, Yu and Gao and recommended the death penalty. Does anyone have memories of MFL Liquor and Tobacco or recollections from Stockton in 1997 that could shed more light on Chacko’s life or the robbery?