This interview was recorded in January 2013
Few journalists have had as much impact in Davis as Joel Davis, who died in April at 62.
In 2005 he wrote his book Justice Waits about the kidnapping and murders of two UC Davis students, John Riggins and Sabrina Gonsalves, in December 1980. His book helped sustain interest in solving the crime, ending in the conviction of Richard Hirschfield for first-degree murder in December 2012 — 32 years after the tragedy.
In January 2013, Joel appeared on Davisville to talk about the book, the effect the murders had on Davis and on him, and finishing his work even as he was diagnosed with early-onset Parkinson’s Disease. We replay that interview today.
Joel grew up in Davis. He cared about getting this story right. “I knew this would be an unusual case,” he wrote in the preface to his book. “I just didn’t realize how unusual.”
Photo is an excerpt from the Justice Waits book jacket