Good morning.

(Here’s the sign-up, if you don’t already get California Today by email.)

The case of Trinity Love Jones, the 9-year-old girl whose body was found in a duffel bag near a suburban trail in Hacienda Heights, has transfixed Southern Californians. But as my colleague Jose A. Del Real reported, her death is far from the only such tragedy.

He talked to parents who are trying to change that:

When LaWanda Hawkins heard about Trinity Love Jones last week, she thought of her son, Reginald, who was killed in 1995 at age 19. She never received any answers about his murder.

Today, Ms. Hawkins is one of many advocates who belong to an informal network in Southern California dedicated to raising community awareness about young homicide victims. The founder of Justice for Murdered Children, a nonprofit organization, Ms. Hawkins hopes public pressure and media attention will guarantee thorough investigations by law enforcement. More than anything, she wants the families to feel supported.

“We want the community as a whole to get more involved with these homicides,” she said. “We have to hold them accountable. We thought the system would do it for us, but we have to take our own steps.”