RECENT COLD CASES THAT WERE SOLVED IN CALIFORNIA

RECENT COLD CASES THAT WERE SOLVED IN CALIFORNIA

April 28, 2012

On April 20, 2012, a 51 year old Northern California man allegedly linked to the 1981 rape-murder cold case of a Whittier women is expected was arraigned in court.

Joseph Allen Thornton of Auburn, California was charged with one count of murder with special circumstance allegation of rape.

The defendant was arrested by the Whittier PD on April 18^th, 2012, at his residence, is accused of raping and killing Blanca Stella Negrete, 21, on June 27, 1981.

Whittier police department re-opened the 30 year old cold case in May of 2010 and identified the defendant through a DNA hit on the Combined DNA Index System, the statewide DNA database.

Joseph Allen Thornton is being held without bail.  If convicted as charged, he faces life in prison without parole or the death penalty.  The DA office will announce at a later date whether it will seek the death penalty against the defendant.

CALIFORNIA DEATH ROW INMATE PLEADS TO 1989 LONG BEACH WILSON HIGH MURDER

On April 18, 2012 a California death row inmate pleaded guilty to the 1989 strangulation of a 15 year old Wilson High School sophomore.

Royal Clark, 50, will be sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.  Clark pleaded guilty to the first-degree murder of Danielle Marie Haddon on October 30, 1989, and admitted that he used an electric cord to strangle her to death. He admitted the special circumstance of prior murder conviction.  In exchange for his plea, prosecution agreed not seek the death penalty.

Prosecutors say that on the night of October 29, 1989, Haddon was alone in the apartment that she shared with her grandmother and was talking on the phone with a friend when she said she had to answer a knock on the door.

Her body was discovered inside the apartment in the 1000 block of Coronado Avenue early the next morning after her grandmother returned home from work. DNA collected from her body at the time was matched to Clark’s DNA.

Los Angeles Man charged in Fatal shooting in 1990 Cold Case Murder.

Michael James Tharrington  is charged with one count of capital murder, one count of attempted murder and two counts of second-degree robbery.  The felony complaint includes the special circumstance that he committed the murder during a robbery.

Michael Tharrington is charged with fatally shooting Ann Yao, 31, on Feb 10, 1990. Yao was sitting in her car parked on Lucernce Avenue south of Wilshire Blvd.   when she was shot once in the head.  Tharrington also is charged with shooting the male passenger sitting in her car  and stealing his car that was parked nearby.

 

I will keep you up to date on other cold case files that are closed.