Cold Cases Solved With the Help of DOJ Criminalists:
DNA Helps Solve 1973 Cold Case Murder
On February 27, 2020, the Vallejo Police Department announced that it now has answers in a murder case that went unsolved for 47 years. Who killed Naomi Sanders, 57, inside her Vallejo apartment on February 27, 1973? Their answer came after years of persistent work and from DNA technology.
Suspect Identified in Two Murders that Have Gone Unsolved for 41 Years
On April 16, 2019, the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office announced that a suspect in two 41-year-old homicide cases in Atascadero has been identified.
New DNA Technology Credited for Arrest & Conviction of Stockton Woman’s Killer
On November 26, 2018, a jury convicted Alvin Larry Davis, 78, of the July 5, 2012 rape and murder of Hazel Dingman, 84.
Suspect Identified in 1985 Danville Cold Case
On October 2, 2018, the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office announced that homicide detectives have now identified a suspect in the September 20, 1985 killing of Virginia Vincent, 57, of Danville. On that day, a concerned neighbor found Vincent’s body in her apartment and notified police. It was later determined that she was raped and murdered.
DOJ Criminalists Assist in Solving 25-Year Old Rape and Murder Case
On April 14, 2017, the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office announced today that the 1992 rape and murder of an 84-year-old San Diego woman has now been solved after familial DNA testing conducted by California Department of Justice (DOJ) criminalists.
Suspect in 41-Year-old Murder Case Identified Through Familial DNA
On the 41st anniversary of the sexual assault and murder of Karen Klaas, a 32-year-old mother and the ex-wife of Bill Medley of the Righteous Brothers, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department announced the decades-old case has been solved by criminalists using Familial DNA technology at the California Department of Justice Bureau
COLD CASE: Two Cousins Sentenced in the 1973 Murders of Two Olivehurst Girls
On January 26, 2017, two cousins who killed two young girls back in 1973 were sentenced to prison, more than 40 years after their cold-blooded crimes. DNA work by criminalists at several California Department of Justice labs led to the arrests of the two 65-year-old suspects, now convicted of killing Valerie Lane, 12
Murder Suspect Arrested in 1988 Santa Barbara County Homicide Case
On September 1, 2016, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office announced that an arrest had been made in a 28-year-old homicide case that involved the murder of 46-year-old Vernon Hart Kendrick of Montecito.
When Family, Friends & Forensic Scientists Don’t Give Up
While it's not a celebration, it certainly is a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment - having identified a woman whose murdered body was found in Los Angeles in 1969, and for 47 years was only known as Jane Doe 59. Thanks to work over the years by California Department of Justice criminalists, Jane Doe 59 has been identified as Reet Jurvetson, just 19-years-old when she was killed.
Criminalist’s Work at Ripon DOJ Lab Leads to Suspected Killer’s Arrest
When the daughter of an 84-year-old Stockton murder victim who was raped and killed inside her own home, stood before television news cameras to express how relieved she was that her mother's suspected killer had finally been identified and arrested four years after the crime, California Department of Justice (DOJ) criminalists in the crime lab in Ripon, quietly rejoiced.
The Role of California DOJ Criminalists in the Capture of the Grim Sleeper
As the trial of Grim Sleeper serial killer suspect Lonnie Franklin Jr., 63, began in Los Angeles February 16, 2016, some people were just tuning in to the details of how investigators finally identified Franklin as the suspect and arrested him in 2010 - decades after the first of 10 young women
Cold Case: Suspect in 2004 Rape Arrested in Santa Cruz County
The Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office announced on July 3, 2014 the arrest of a man suspected in a violent rape that took place nearly 10 years ago. The arrest was the result of a DNA hit in a California Department of Justice (DOJ) lab. According to the sheriff's office, DOJ criminalists notified investigators of the hit on June 18, 2014.
Life In Prison For Killer In West Sacramento Cold Case Homicide
It was a case that went unsolved for years, the Father's Day murder of a janitor at Ortega's West bar in West Sacramento. On Monday, March 3, 2014, Yolo County Superior Court Judge Stephen L. Mock sentenced Juan Antonio Gonzales, 29, of Sacramento, to a term of life without the possibility of parole for the June 18, 2006, murder of Alfonso Prado.
