Who is benjamin markowitz

Hansen: Is the quest over now? Her quest for justice began in West Hills. But eventually, authorities came to the hills of Brazil, half a world away. Jesse Katz, Los Angeles Magazine senior writer: This is like one of those bad true crime tales come to life. Los Angeles Magazine senior writer Jesse Katz wrote an in-depth cover story about the tragedy that began here amidst the expensive homes.

They have since moved, but back in the s they were living the good life. Susan was a homemaker. Hansen: How would you describe Nick to someone who never met him? Susan Markowitz: The funniest person on earth. He just had so much energy. His parents say Nick, who liked sports and theatre, was a typical, fun-loving year-old.

Hansen: Ben was a troublemaker. Jeff Markowitz: No, not really a troublemaker; but he was always there when there was trouble. And, the things escalated from there a lot of times. Hansen: Was he a tough kid to have around? Susan Markowitz: Definitely—and I think, as a parent, I made some very poor choices.

The Markowitzes say they tried everything to help Ben. Ben worked with his dad for a time, but he continued to get into trouble at home and into scrapes with the law. Susan was frightened that Nick, who idolized his older half-brother, would soon be led into trouble too.

Hansen: And how difficult was it for you to try to insulate Nick from all of this? Susan Markowitz: It was doing double time. Jeff eventually gave Ben an ultimatum: obey the rules or move out.

Hollywood lived a few blocks away from the Markowitz family, and soon Ben and Jesse became friends. Years earlier, Jesse James Hollywood and his friends seemed like all American kids.

Katz: Jack was savvy enough that he knew how to blend into the L. Hansen: But he was long suspected of being a major marijuana dealer. Katz: He was. No matter what his father did, as a kid, Jesse James Hollywood did not seem destined for trouble.

But by 10 th grade, Hollywood was expelled. He transferred to a nearby school two years later and graduated. But a young life that seemed so full of promise had begun to take a very different path. Instead, police say, he eventually went into business for himself.

Hollywood had his own house. He had bought it with a big cash down payment the year before, when he was just How does someone this young afford his own house? Katz: That was a really complex relationship. Jesse James Hollywood, he was probably a wannabe bad boy.

Ben Markowitz was a real bad boy. Katz: It was a real scene. Cars, girls, music, booze. I mean they were living this extended spring break. Hansen: Take me inside the Jesse James Hollywood posse. Katz: He would give them a certain amount of pot to sell.

And they used whatever neighborhood connections they had to sell it. And some of them would bring back the money that they earned. And some would come up short. And the ones that came up short became almost like indentured servants to Jesse James Hollywood. Over time, authorities say, young Jesse Hollywood, a smart, friendly, fun-loving Little Leaguer, had turned into a tough guy pot dealer.

Hollywood allegedly ruled with an iron hand and ordered those in his debt to clean up after his dogs and pick up empty beer cans around his house. In one videotape, Hollywood is seen apparently demanding payment on a debt from one of his childhood friends, by now a posse member. Katz: Jesse James Hollywood was a businessman.

He was running a dope-dealing crew. The people around him were basically lost souls. These were kids without were smoking a lot of pot and drinking a lot of beer. Jesse James was kind of the center of their universe. And these kids were smoking so much of his dope that they almost all fell into debt to him. Some observers say as tough as Jesse James Hollywood supposedly was, he was actually fearful of Ben Markowitz and saw him as a threat.

Katz: Ben was dangerous to Jesse James Hollywood. None of the other kids would stand up to him. As a 3-year-old, he was reciting a nursery rhyme, with his older half-sister and half-brother Nick had a privileged upbringing in the West Hills section of Los Angeles. But by the time he was 15, in the summer of , Nick was about to become entangled in a bizarre series of events.

Tragedy would be just around the corner. Jesse Katz, senior writer, Los Angeles Magazine: It triggered this kind of tit-for-tat back-and-forth taunting between the two of them, which could have been sort of innocent trash-talking, or could have been very menacing. But they spotted a different opportunity— Nick Markowitz. Yet, he was snatched right from his own from his own neighborhood in broad daylight by Jesse James Hollywood and his posse.

Katz: I think he was just convenient Hansen: Wrong place at the wrong time? Katz: It was a moment, an opportunity, and they seized it. Hansen: Once they grabbed Nick Markowitz, what did they do? Katz: In the very beginning, they did hit him.

They punched him and kicked him and threw him in the van. Jeff and Susan Markowitz had no idea Nick had been abducted. But then they started worrying. Hansen: Where was Nick going when he left the house the day he disappeared? Markowitz: The amount of good that has come from the murder of my son is astronomical.

Nick, through his death, has helped more than he ever could have in his lifetime. For one thing, throughout the search for Jesse James Hollywood, there were hundreds of drug busts. But the most important thing, I feel, is all the teens who have been truly affected by hearing what happened to Nick.

Teens can be self-absorbed, and when they hear stories about consequences of drugs and violence, they often think, "This won't happen to me.

I receive thousands of letters from parents and teens telling me how Nick's story has changed their lives forever. Some were on the wrong path and this opened their eyes. Some parents say I've been able to make a bigger impact on their teens just by speaking to them for two minutes, than they themselves were able to make in two years.

And I hope the book will expand that reach even further, helping parents and teens communicate with each other and helping people find the courage to speak out if they witness a crime. About the Author Susan Markowitz is Nick's mom. She was a stay-at-home mom during Nick's life, and is stepmom to Ben and Leah. She has spent the years since her son's death on a tireless mission to see justice served, and to honor his memory by reaching out to teens and parents about staying away from drugs and listening to their conscience.

She is married to Nick's dad, Jeff, and lives in California. Remember Me. As a free community newspaper, we must evolve to thrive in the digital space. If our reporting on Santa Barbara County matters to you, we hope you will support the Independent through a digital subscription to Independent.

Breaking news, critical content, and our print publication will always remain free. Markowitz was killed two and a half days later, sometime after midnight in the early hours of August 9.

Like in the Alpha Dog movie, the true story confirms that Jesse Hollywood decided to murder Nick after his father's attorney, Stephen Hogg, told Jesse that he would face serious penalties for the kidnapping.

Jesse had called Hogg for legal advice. Pressley portrayed by Chris Marquette in the film waited in the car but could hear Ryan Hoyt taking Nick's life, shooting him nine times after first striking him in the back of the head with a shovel, a blow that sent the year-old hurtling into the grave. Rugge and Hoyt used dirt and branches to cover the body, but the grave was too shallow and too close to the trail for it to go unnoticed for long.

Nick's body was discovered three days later on August 12, Actor Justin Timberlake right portrays Rugge in the movie. Investigators believe that Nicholas Markowitz had several chances to escape his captors. The problem was that he assumed he would be released.