Family hopes to stop parole of man convicted in 1991 San Bernardino murder

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (KABC) -- Laura Gutknecht says August 12, 1991 is a date she'll never forget.

It's the day she lost her husband, in what she calls an act of cold-blooded murder.

And the say she got a knock on her front door from detectives with the San Bernardino county sheriff's department, who shared this:

"They came in and told me he's been murdered."

Gutknecht said her husband Daniel Moseley worked multiple jobs, and had a part-time gig delivering newspapers in San Bernardino. She said he was on one of his routes that morning, sitting in his car in an apartment complex parking lot on the 25800 block of E. 9th St in unincorporated San Bernardino, when someone came up and shot him in the back of the head.

"He cold-bloodedly murdered my husband," said Gutknecht. "He laid in wait; had many opportunities to do something different. And he didn't."

Three days later, deputies arrested Danny Reloba and charged him with murder. Gutknecht recalls many of the details of the case, some of which hurt her to this day. Things like Reloba telling detectives that he killed Moseley because Moseley raped his daughter. Gutknecht said that's completely false.

"He was a good man whose name was tarnished."

Reloba was convicted of murder, and sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole. After twice being found unsuitable for release, Reloba was granted parole last week. His case now enters a 150-day review period, in which the state board of parole hearings will review the decision. Ultimately, the case will be forwarded to Governor Gavin Newsom's office for a final decision.

Gutknecht hopes the governor decides to overturn the decision to grant parole, because she says Reloba has not shown signs of remorse.

"If he was remorseful, he would have told the truth," said Gutknecht. "He admitted in court that he knows my husband never raped his daughter, but his family members still think that, and my husband's name is still being tarnished."

Moseley's daughter also opposes Reloba's parole.

"He didn't know the date the crime happened, the year it happened; he couldn't remember any little detail there was about the crime," said Moseley about the letter, saying she felt Reloba put on a "front" at the parole hearing.

"And now all of a sudden he knows everything?"

They also question whether these decisions are being made because of a larger state problem regarding overcrowding.

San Bernardino county deputy district attorney Diane Harrison, who opposes Reloba's parole, sent Eyewitness News this statement about the board's decision:

"The panels do not reference prison overcrowding in their decisions. However, in recent years there has been a trend towards finding more inmates suitable for release where they have demonstrated good behavior while incarcerated and do not represent a danger by reason of mental illness."

Luis Patino, a spokesperson for the California Dept. of Corrections and Rehabilitation's Board of Parole Hearings, sent Eyewitness News a statement that read in part:

"(Danny Reloba) is eligible for the Elderly Parole Program. The Elderly Parole Program was ordered by the federal three-judge-court in February 2014. It mandates that inmates who are aged 60 or older and who have served 25 years of continuous time in prison be given a parole hearing.

"Reloba's minimum parole eligibility date was August 30, 2010. The Board of Parole Hearings denied him twice: at his initial hearing on July 2, 2009 and at his second hearing on June 12, 2014. On May 15, 2019, they granted him parole suitability. The Suitability Grant is not a final parole decision."