Nicholas Nick Samuel Markowitz was a 15-year-old from West Hills, Los Angeles, who was abducted and murdered in the Santa Ynez Mountains near Goleta, California. The abduction occurred on August 6, 2000, when a group confronting Nicholas’s older half-brother encountered Nicholas walking by the road and took him into a van. He was held in Santa Barbara for several days, given drugs and alcohol, and seen at house parties by numerous witnesses who did not report him.

Facing the legal consequences of the kidnapping, one of the group’s leaders decided Nicholas should be killed. On the night of August 8, 2000, Nicholas was driven to the Lizard’s Mouth trail, bound with duct tape, struck in the head with a shovel and then shot nine times; his body was found by hikers on August 12, 2000. Several men were arrested in connection with the killing, and the alleged organizer fled the country before later being captured.

Does anyone have information about Nicholas’s movements in Santa Barbara during those days or remembers seeing him at gatherings where he was held?