'Sandlot' Actor Marty York's Mother Found Murdered, Killer At Large

Deanna Esmaeel, the mother of "The Sandlot" actor Marty York, was found murdered in her home on October 12, 2023.

The suspect, the boyfriend of Esmaeel, Daniel James Walter, is still at large and is wanted for homicide.

Deanna Esmaeel, the mother of "The Sandlot" star Marty York and a Del Norte County Sheriff Deputy, was found dead in her home Thursday. York, who is best known for his role as Alan 'Yeah-Yeah' McClennan, was extremely close to his mother, according to many of his social media posts. He has yet to speak out on her death.

The Del Norte County Sheriff's Office, along with the Del Norte County District Attorney's Office, is investigating the death of Esmaeel, who was found dead in her home on North Bank Road.

The police are currently looking into Esmaeel's boyfriend, Daniel James Walter, as a suspect, but did not release any further information as it is an ongoing homicide investigation.

In 2020, Marty York shared a lengthy Instagram post for his mom as she became the oldest person to ever graduate from the Del Norte County District police academy.

"30 years ago my mom and I left the small town we were from not far from here in Northern California to pursue a dream in Los Angeles," he began to write in the lengthy post. He went on to explain how he and his mom left the rest of their family behind to go to L.A. to further York's acting career.

The post explained how the two had "very little money" and " rented rooms in people's homes to get by. The rest of his family eventually moved to L.A., but "the dynamic of the relationship changed because LA started changing us."

York then went on to explain how much his mom means to him, expressing, "If there's one thing I learned from my mom it's PERSEVERANCE AND NEVER GIVE UP."

"At 64 she's the oldest person to ever graduate this police academy," he added.

The actor spoke out on the film in a past interview, explaining how a lot of the iconc lines -- including "You’re killing me Smalls".

"A lot of the movie was improv," York said. "When Squints says 'My clothes are going out of style”'– 'They already are Squints!' That was improv. In Japan that’s the 'You’re killing me Smalls” line. That’s their favorite line. “Your clothes are going out of style'."

"For the most part, I mean, the things that were improv in the film were like the 'pool honeys!'," he added. "That came from when we were on the field, we used to say ‘your mama’ jokes to each other."