Murder in Paradise?

The brutal beating death of professional surfer Emery Kauanui turns upscale La Jolla upside down, leaving five rogue brawlers—the self-styled Bird Rock Bandits—facing trial on homicide charges.

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IT’S DIFFERENT NOW, at Windansea. Getting from the Pump House Gang to the Bird Rock Bandits took close to 40 years. Exercise, art, soul and redemption—all of that is getting left out of the Windansea mix these days. Beyond the loss of a member of the tribe, the case of the Bird Rock Bandits has come to symbolize how much innocence has been lost since that golden time, in 1969, when young Californians were “too cool” to fight.

Cravens probably doesn’t care much about sociological developments such as these. He has a defense strategy to plan, as the California legal system, for the first time, tries to hold him accountable for his actions. But Seth Cravens apparently hasn’t changed much since Emery Kauanui Jr. was killed.

“While in custody, Cravens has continued to contact other Bird Rock Bandits members,” according to Deputy District Attorney Roach. “In phone conversations and letters, he talks about having a ‘welcome home’ rager. . . He frequently talks about harming people, albeit in a joking manner, even when speaking to his own mother.”

Meanwhile, after many years of public opposition, the San Diego City Council recently voted for a temporary one-year ban on drinking on San Diego beaches, a regulation which might have slightly stifled the Bird Rock Bandits had it been passed a couple of years ago. The booze prohibition was too late for Kauanui.

On June 9, 2007, a gray, unseasonably cold day in La Jolla, 300 people on surfboards paddled out at Windansea and formed a circle in the swells. From a boat moored in the center of the circle, Cindy Kauanui tearfully cast Emery’s ashes onto the sea. At that moment, all the paddlers slapped the water with their hands. To Emery’s brother Nigel, it sounded like joyous applause, “like a concert in the middle of the ocean.”

This point would henceforth be known as Emery’s Left, after his “goofy-foot” right-foot-forward stance on a board, which led him left down the face of waves. Sadly, Emery’s Left now means something else, too.

 

UPDATE: Since San Diego Magazine published "Murder in Paradise?" Eric House, Matthew Yanke and Orlando Osuna pleased guilty to involuntary manslaughter charges Friday, June 27 in court, while Henri "Hank" Hendricks pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact.

Seth Cravens, however, will be on trial for murder charges. He remains in County Jail on $1.5 million bail while the other four defendants are free on bond.

Check back for more updates.

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