The murder of Eugenio Delian Vega marked the beginning of a three-decade legal odyssey that exposed flaws in Connecticut's criminal justice system and raised enduring questions about who really killed the popular grocer.

Police initially suspected robbery as the motive, and two suspects were arrested,

charged, and convicted based on the state's highly circumstantial case against them, despite

the glaring inconsistencies at the scene and witnesses who couldn't stick to their story.

The case still has not seen a true ending, and it continues to develop as we speak.

I'm Kylie Lowe, and this is the case of Eugenio Delian Vega on Darkdowne East.

It was 605 on the morning of July 4, 1993,

when New Haven police responded to a call at La Casa Green,

a small grocery store on Grand Avenue in the city's Fair Haven neighborhood. According to court records,

one of the store's regular customers, Mary Boyd, walked in a little after 540 a.m. expecting to see

the store owner, 51-year-old Eugenio Delian Vega, but he wasn't at his usual post.

Mary looked for Eugenio inside and out, but there was no sign of him.

Eugenio wasn't just the owner of a neighborhood store. He and La Casseh Green were at the center of

the Fairhaven community. You could stop in to grab a soda or ingredients for dinner and find

yourself in conversation with friends long after you'd checked out.

Eugenio had been a fixture of Grand Avenue for over 25 years, and he was as reliable as the sunrise,

which is also when he showed up to the store every day. It was routine for Eugenio to arrive around

5 a.m. and stay until near midnight. So the fact that he wasn't at the

register or puttering around the shop that morning was extremely unusual. At 542 a.m., Mary used the

phone behind the counter to place a 911 call to New Haven Police with a report of suspicious

activity at 3.30 Grand Avenue. Two New Haven Police, with a report of suspicious activity at 330 Grand Avenue.

Two New Haven officers arrived at 605 a.m.

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