Profile

Name: Juan "John" Jiminez (John Jiminez)
Aliases: John Jiminez, John
Sex: Male
Race: Hispanic
Age Now: 41
Height: 5' 7\"
Weight: 155 - 180 lbs.
Hair (Color, Description, Facial Hair): Black\rWore a moustache at the time he became a fugitive in 1991.
Eyes (Color and Correction): Brown
Other Physical Characteristics: Scar on left eyebrow\rAppendix scar on abdomen\rBullet wound hole on left forearm
Wanted for: Felony Murder. Robbery. Burglary. Larceny. Conspiracy ; 1991

Locations

Last seen: Hartford, CT Hartford
Possible location: New York City, NY Colombia, South America
Last known: Hartford, CT Lived with his mother in 1991 in Manchester, Connecticut. Manchester is a suburb of Hartford. Jiminez lived with his mother, Christina Fenandez. His father's whereabouts are not known to law enforcement.

Traits

Usually clean cut and neat
Known to like to party and drink
Speaks fluent Spanish and English
Has managed a McDonald's
Personable and charming with a pretty smile. Extremely vain

Case Story

A Simple Working Man

In the north end of Hartford, Connecticut, Robert \"Bob\" Rooney was a beloved figure.  Rooney, a retired Southern New England telephone company employee had managed his money well and invested some of it into a neighborhood watering hole called the Blue Hills Cafe. Hartford's north end is a gritty, working-class community.  Bob was known in the hood as someone who would lend a family money for rent, or food, or a pressing medical bill out of the goodness of his heart.   He was a simple working man who lived by a code of honor and frugality. But he didn't work so much for money as he did for the daily interaction with people and his blue collar, \"old school\" work ethic.   By 1991, Bob had been running the Blue Hills Cafe for more than twenty-five years.  He lived across the river in Glastonbury on Neipsic Road. Where Hartford is a city with a high crime rate and substantial pockets of poverty, Glastonbury is exactly the opposite -- a white-collar upper middle class enclave with a low crime rate.  Back in 1991, a lot of residents didn't even lock their doors. Bob had lived in the house with his mother and took care of her until her death in 1990. He usually worked seven days a week.

Lucky Thieves Hit The Mother Lode

In late March of 1991, three young men from Hartford crossed the river and were up to no good in Glastonbury. They figured it was a good town to burglarize homes in and police say they happened to pick Bob Rooney's house on Neipsic Road.  The men were just looking for anything of pawnable value.  But they stumbled upon something they could have never imagined in their wildest dreams. In a spare bedroom on top of the bed they found nine large grocery bags, each filled with cash. Lots of it!  Pressed for time and lacking enough extra hands to carry all of the bags of loot, the trio grabbed four bags and a shotgun they found in the house, and took off. Incredibly, the lucky petty burglars walked away with approximately $100,000.  When Bob Rooney discovered that his home had been burgled to the tune of one hundred grand of his hard-earned cash he was furious.  His brother John told AMW that he'd told his brother time and time again to put his money in the bank. But Bob was a creature of habit and one of his habits was to come home from the cafe at night and just put the day's proceeds in a brown paper grocery bag on the bed in the empty guest bedroom. John told Bob, \"Bob get the rest of the money the hell out of the house and put it in a bank!\" Bob didn't heed his brother's advice. Instead, he installed an alarm system and a safe in the basement. He was worried that whoever had hit his house knew they'd left behind at least five bags of loot. The possibility that the thieves would return was a serious concern. 

Thieves Strike Twice

Meanwhile police say the robbers went on a major partying binge. They brought one of their running buddies along for the ride. His name was Juan Jiminez. The foursome went to New York and Atlantic City to hit the clubs, carouse with beautiful girls, gamble, hang out in luxurious hotel suites and drink champagne. All of a sudden these guys were living the lifestyle of the rich and famous.  Before long, the crew was ready to go back for more of Bob Rooney's money. This time though, the gang was going to do some planning. From April until late June of 1991, police say Jiminez and Eriberto \"Eddy\" DeLeon scoped out Rooney's house, noted his comings and goings, and planned their re-entry into his house to get the money they were sure he still had. This time, they would break into Rooney's house, hide and wait for him to come home from the cafe late at night. Then they'd surprise him, hold him at gunpoint, and get him to tell them where he'd hidden the rest of his money. Although they didn't know Rooney had installed a safe after the first burglary, police say the theives suspected he would have taken some new precautions to protect his loot.  Police say the crew arrived at Rooney's house around 1:00 am on the morning of June 29, 1991. Jiminez and DeLeon were joined by Joaquin \"Javier\" Santiago and a 16-year-old they picked as a wheelman. Jiminez had a small calibre revolver according to police; Santiago had a shotgun, and DeLeon was armed with a 9mm pistol.   Santiago told police Rooney came home and fell asleep soon after. Santiago and Jiminez climbed into the house through a bathroom window. The alarm system Rooney had recently installed was not activated because he turned it off when he got home. Santiago told detectives while he and his two accomplices were rummaging around the house looking for the money, Rooney woke up and confronted Juan Jiminez in the kitchen. The two struggled and Rooney was shot twice. However, Rooney was able to fight back in self-defense; Jiminez was shot in the forearm. According to Santiago, Jiminez dragged the mortally wounded Bob Rooney down to the basement and demanded the combination to the safe. The thugs never got the combination out of the dying but still defiant Irishman. So the thieves lugged the 200 pound safe out of the basement, up the stairs and out to the trunk of Rooney's black, 1986 Chevy Monte Carlo. Down in his basement, Rooney slowly bled to death; a tragic ending for a good hard-working man. Juan Jiminez went to a nearby ER to get treatment for his wound.  Following protocol, hospital personnel called police. Jiminez spun a tale of being shot by a would-be car-jacker -- and since police didn't yet know about the shooting over at Bob Rooney's house they let him go. On June 30, 1991 police found Bob Rooney's Monte Carlo in Springfield, Massachusetts. On July 1st, 1991, Glastonbury police interviewed the gang's young wheelman about the robbery. The 16-year-old told all and agreed to testify against his accomplices.  The wheelman pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit burglary and testified against DeLeon and Santiago in exchange for a sentence of five and a half years in prison. On May 21, 1992, Santiago was sentenced to 50 years in prison. On July 31, 1992, DeLeon was sentenced to 60 years in prison for his role in the robbery and murder of Bob Rooney. Juan Jiminez is the only suspect who got away. He has not been seen since he was interviewed at the hospital on the morning of the murder. The .22 calibre pistol used in the crime has never been recovered.