‘My son should be here’: 6 years later, justice still sought in Cal Poly Humboldt student’s death

Saturday marked the sixth year since Cal Poly Humboldt student David Josiah Lawson was fatally stabbed. His family and loved ones met with Humboldt County District Attorney Stacey Eads on Friday, who promised to spend the next three months reviewing the case.

Lawson’s family wants Eads to pursue murder charges against Kyle Zoellner, a McKinleyville man who was initially charged with fatally stabbing Lawson at a party in Arcata in the early morning hours of April 15, 2017, but a judge decided there wasn’t enough compelling evidence for the case to warrant a trial. Michelle-Charmaine Lawson, Lawson’s mother, said the prosecution of Zoellner must come sooner.

“She’ll have an answer for us, probably in about three months, but I don’t think you need three months to solve this case (that) is already solved. She just needs to prosecute Kyle Zoellner,” Michelle-Charmaine Lawson said.

Lawson said the accumulated evidence in the case, which includes Zoellner’s bloody clothing, and his DNA under Lawson’s fingernails and on the knife used to kill Lawson, would result in a conviction. She argued the case was botched at the preliminary hearing and in front of a grand jury, leading to its dismissal.

In Zoellner’s civil case accusing the Arcata Police Department of arresting him without probable cause, defaming him and denying him medical attention, a judge ruled that former Arcata Police Department Detective Eric Losey had good reason to suspect that Zoellner killed Lawson. The ruling threw out the $776,300 in damages a jury was going to award Zoellner, as they decided that Losey had violated Zoellner’s rights. Zoellner also testified in the civil trial in October 2022.

“(Zoellner) testified back in October for a day and a half, so they can use his testimony against him where he said he didn’t remember, he doesn’t remember, but if you don’t remember how did all this blood get on your clothes?” Michelle-Charmaine Lawson said.

After meeting with Eads, Lawson’s mother said that her son would be in prison right now if he had fatally stabbed Zoellner, a white man. She added that former District Attorney Maggie Fleming had failed her, wishing Eads would follow a different path.

Lawson was accompanied by friends, family and allies on the steps of the courthouse in Eureka on Friday afternoon. Two members of the Black Lives Matter chapter in Los Angeles were there to support Michelle-Charmaine Lawson.

“This case has ramifications here in Humboldt County, and across the entire country, as we see the relentless theft of Black life, the disposability of Black life,” Tabitha Jones Jolivet, a Black Lives Matter organizer, said. “We absolutely expect that Kyle Zoellner will be prosecuted and charged by this DA in due time.”

California Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer introduced a two-year bill in the state assembly called the Justice for Josiah Lawson Act, or AB 644. The bill would require California colleges to track and give a survey to students about hate crimes beyond the scope of the Clery Act.

“I am pissed because my son should be here,” Michelle-Charmaine Lawson said. “I should not have to do this. My son should be here with us, and he’s not here.”

Jackson Guilfoil can be reached at 707-441-0506.