Valley Pulse

Finding Eduardo Herrera wasn’t easy. Like many sources, a phone call wouldn’t cut it.

Herrera literally appeared behind my back on a North Commerce Avenue parking lot corner during my search for him Monday afternoon. And he was willing to talk. The 36-year-old Waynesboro man had been beaten by a wooden baseball bat three nights prior, but he was mostly laughs while standing just feet from where he was attacked.

Like many crime stories, the narrative behind Herrera’s rough night began with a Waynesboro Police Department press release. Bare bones: names of those arrested, no hint at the victim’s name, and no details about the beating: Who wielded the baseball bat? Was it wood or metal? What happened to the stolen beer?

I started with the search warrant, filed in circuit court. The warrant gave Herrera’s name and mentioned, specifically, a wooden bat. But where was Herrera?

A quick search pulled up one Waynesboro address for a Herrera family. I went there, without luck. I tried the apartment complex where the beating occurred and found no one milling outside. But later, again at the complex, Eduardo’s name began to ring a bell for some tenants.

“That might be him,“ one teen said, pointing back to where I had just been standing.

It was Herrera, and he spoke freely.

Finding victims of crime or tragedy isn’t often easy. Sometimes old newsroom notebooks provide an address without a phone number. Sometimes reporters wake up before 6 a.m. to wait for sources.

And sometimes a story is so quirky, those feeling its effects welcome reporters right inside, into their kitchen, basement, or living room (even if it has been rocked off its foundation with an early morning car crash).