The 2017 Case of the Year was awarded to the Anaheim Police Department for a case that involved seven days of non-stop investigation, including a 24/7 manhunt for a murder suspect in possession of a kidnap victim and an officer-involved shooting.

On January 11, 2017, Luke Lampers went to an Anaheim motel and kidnapped his ex-girlfriend at gunpoint after stalking her for several days. When a passerby, Douglas Navarro, attempted to intervene, Lampers shot and killed him. Lampers escaped the scene with his ex-girlfriend, but was apprehended after a seven-day non-stop investigation that culminated in a non-fatal officer-involved shooting in the city of San Diego. The investigation spanned Orange, Los Angeles and San Diego counties before concluding near downtown San Diego. In addition to managing the murder and kidnapping investigations, APD Homicide oversaw the manhunt and then partnered with San Diego PD, which was the lead agency for the officer-involved shooting. In addition to extensive traditional investigative techniques used to build the case - including more than a dozen search warrants for approximately 30 locations, vehicles and other items - detectives used numerous surveillance and SWAT teams to apprehend Lampers. APD investigators rescued the kidnap victim from a San Diego bar minutes before the officer-involved shooting occurred. Following his apprehension, Lampers was charged with special circumstance murder; he was found guilty on September 26, 2019.

Learn more about the case here: https://www.ocregister.com/2019/09/26/transient-convicted-in-anaheim-motel-murder-kidnapping/.