Body of boy reburied after last month's exhumation
The body of a 6-year-old boy exhumed from a local cemetery by Merced County sheriff's detectives was reburied Friday.
More than two dozen family members of Aaron Wright gathered at Evergreen Funeral Home and Memorial Park for the brief ceremony. Relatives of the boy wept as they each shoveled a mound of dirt onto his tiny casket.
The child, who drowned in 1982, was the stepson of Randal Wright, a former Merced tow truck company owner whose wife, Karen Rene Wright, has been missing since February 2009.
Randal Wright has never been considered a suspect in the death of his stepson, his wife's disappearance, or the unsolved 1993 disappearance of two drivers who worked for his company. The boy's drowning was determined to be an accident 28 years ago.
Last month, Merced County sheriff's investigators said they were taking a new look into the boy's death, particularly to determine whether scientific advances not available in 1982 reveal new clues.
Sheriff Mark Pazin on Friday said an examination of the body has been completed. Still, he said additional tests remain and no new information about the boy's death is available. Pazin said the decision to exhume the boy was "difficult," but added it was done "in the pursuit of justice" with support from Judy Larson, who is the boy's mother and Wright's ex-wife.
Randal Wright wasn't present at the hour-long ceremony Friday. He spoke to the Sun-Star in May, saying he wasn't present when his stepson drowned and had no involvement in his death.
Nicole Mazur, a 26-year-old cousin to Aaron Wright, said her family stood by Pazin's decision to exhume the boy. "The sheriff's office ensured us that every step would be taken to take care of Aaron and be as respectful as they could," Mazur said.
Even though many years have passed, Mazur said members of her family are still mourning. "It's sort of brought back up the grief of losing a child, for my aunt," Mazur said. "It's hard to lose anybody, let alone a 6-year-old child."
No suspects have ever been named in Karen Wright's disappearance, although sheriff's investigators have called Randal Wright a "person of interest" in that case. She disappeared in San Felipe, Mexico, in early February 2009.
Two tow truck drivers who worked for Randal Wright's tow truck company, Steven Lincoln Lombard, 33, and Paul Armstrong, 28, vanished Dec. 17, 1993, after filing workers compensation claims against his company. No one has been named as a suspect in the men's disappearances, which is now considered a double homicide case.
Randal Wright has steadfastly denied any involvement in either the disappearance of his wife or the two drivers who worked for his company.
In another case, Randal Wright is scheduled to report Friday to the Merced County Main Jail to begin serving a six month jail sentence on auto theft and embezzlement charges.
Reporter Victor A. Patton can be reached at (209) 385-2431 or vpatton@mercedsun-star.com.
This story was originally published June 7, 2010 at 5:43 AM with the headline "Body of boy reburied after last month's exhumation."