Joe Luis Avila

Joe’s story

Joe Luis Avila, 40, part of the family behind Orange County’s El Ranchito Mexican restaurants, was shot dead in his black Porsche convertible just after midnight on May 7, 1987. He was turning from Santa Isabel Avenue onto Tustin Avenue in Santa Ana Heights, about a block and a half from his home. At least 14 bullets went through the driver’s window. A motorcycle bought under a false name stood in the road just ahead of his car. Police called it “a classic professional hit.” No one has ever been charged. [1][2][4]

Who Joe Avila was

Avila co-owned two El Ranchito restaurants, one on Placentia Avenue in Costa Mesa and one on Irvine Avenue in Santa Ana Heights. About a year earlier he had bought a Newport Beach restaurant and turned it into a nightclub. His twin brother lived two doors away. [1]

In the weeks before his death he was under some financial strain. He had told family he was spread “too thin financially.” There had been difficulties with partners in the nightclub, and a meat supplier was suing one restaurant for unpaid bills. His wife had filed for divorce, though family said the couple were reconciling. None of these has been established as a motive. [1]

In 1977, Avila and ten others had been indicted in Hawaii on federal drug-smuggling charges. A judge dismissed the case on procedural grounds about five months later. It was never tried, and he was never convicted. [1]

What happened

On the night of May 6, Avila helped close his Costa Mesa restaurant at 11 p.m., then drove to check the Santa Ana Heights location. Just after midnight, as he slowed to turn right onto Tustin Avenue, someone fired a burst of shots across the driver’s side of the car, from the roofline through the window and into the seat. Neighbors heard the gunfire and a car horn. They saw a small, tan, four-door “Honda-type” car with three people inside drive away. [1][3]

Police were called at 12:26 a.m. and arrived two minutes later. Avila was slumped over the wheel, still in his seatbelt, headlights on and right-turn signal still blinking. A newly purchased motorcycle stood on its kickstand 10 to 15 feet in front of his car. Within two days, investigators had traced it to a Los Angeles County dealership, but the buyer had given a false name and a nonexistent address. At least 10 shell casings were found near the car. [1][4]

Police later theorized the motorcycle had been parked to block the road, forcing Avila to stop before the gunman opened fire. [2]

Where it happened

Santa Isabel and Tustin avenues are in Santa Ana Heights, an unincorporated pocket between Costa Mesa and Newport Beach near Upper Newport Bay. That is why the Sheriff’s Department, not a city police force, investigated, although Costa Mesa officers were the first to arrive. [1][7]

What investigators have said

In 1987, a senior Orange County prosecutor said drugs were “the primary deal here,” but that investigators were looking at the case more broadly. The Sheriff’s investigations commander said there was no indication of drugs at the time of the shooting, but that they had past information suggesting Avila had been involved in drug dealing. His family firmly denied any drug involvement. These were statements, not findings. [1]

Six days earlier, a man had been shot in the head in a Costa Mesa parking structure and had survived. The prosecutor said the two cases “may be connected.” No later reporting confirms or rules that out. [1]

By July 1990 the case remained open with an investigator assigned and no suspects. A 2009 OC Weekly retrospective aired organized-crime theories from former associates of Avila. None was corroborated, and none led to charges. [6][8]

Where accounts differ

• The route. The Sheriff’s Department’s current summary says he left a restaurant at “Mesa Drive and Irvine Blvd.” and was found a mile away. The 1987 reports say he left the Placentia Avenue restaurant and was killed near his home on the way to the Irvine Avenue restaurant. “Irvine Blvd.” is likely a slip for Irvine Avenue. [1][3]
• How many shots. Witnesses heard three to five; the car showed at least 14 bullet strikes. [1][3]
• The date. Most sources say just after midnight on Thursday, May 7; one later retrospective says May 8. [5][7]

Open questions

• Who bought the motorcycle in Los Angeles County, and what did the dealership staff remember?
• Who was in the small tan car?
• Was the Costa Mesa parking-structure shooting six days earlier connected?

What you can do

• If you saw a small tan four-door car, or a motorcycle being parked, near Santa Isabel and Tustin avenues on the night of May 6–7, 1987, or know who bought a motorcycle under a false name in LA County that week, contact the cold case team.
• Research: the Register’s coverage from May to December 1987 may hold more on the motorcycle trace and the ballistics. The 1977–78 federal case in Hawaii is held by the National Archives.