voiceofreason
Senior News Editor since 2011
http://fox5sandiego.com/2018/04/23/police-make-arrest-in-1986-cold-case-homicide/
Escondido police make arrest in 1986 fatal stabbing
Updated at 06:47PM, April 23, 2018
ESCONDIDO, Calif. -- A retired security guard was behind bars Monday for allegedly murdering a retiree in northern San Diego County more than three decades ago.
Nathan Eugene Mathis, 62, was arrested last week at his Ontario home in connection with the fatal stabbing of 75-year-old Richard Finney of Escondido, according to police.
On the morning of Nov. 13, 1986, Finney was found stabbed to death in his living-room chair at the East Mission Avenue apartment where he lived by himself, Lt. Ed Varso said. Money, jewelry and other miscellaneous items belonging to the victim had been stolen.
Detectives who initially investigated the homicide collected evidence at the crime scene, including two knives used in the deadly assault, fingerprints and blood. They were unable to identify a suspect, however, and the case eventually went cold, the lieutenant said.
The motive for the slaying remains unclear, the lieutenant said. Though the suspect lived in northern San Diego County at the time, there is no evidence that he knew the victim or had met him prior to the homicide, according to Varso.
In 2007, Escondido Police Department cold-case homicide investigators Chuck Gaylor and Norman Wight reopened the investigation.
"Technological advances not available in 1986 allowed them to have further testing completed on the previously collected blood evidence," Varso said. "The testing revealed the DNA profile of a potential suspect."
Escondido police make arrest in 1986 fatal stabbing
Updated at 06:47PM, April 23, 2018
ESCONDIDO, Calif. -- A retired security guard was behind bars Monday for allegedly murdering a retiree in northern San Diego County more than three decades ago.
Nathan Eugene Mathis, 62, was arrested last week at his Ontario home in connection with the fatal stabbing of 75-year-old Richard Finney of Escondido, according to police.
On the morning of Nov. 13, 1986, Finney was found stabbed to death in his living-room chair at the East Mission Avenue apartment where he lived by himself, Lt. Ed Varso said. Money, jewelry and other miscellaneous items belonging to the victim had been stolen.
Detectives who initially investigated the homicide collected evidence at the crime scene, including two knives used in the deadly assault, fingerprints and blood. They were unable to identify a suspect, however, and the case eventually went cold, the lieutenant said.
The motive for the slaying remains unclear, the lieutenant said. Though the suspect lived in northern San Diego County at the time, there is no evidence that he knew the victim or had met him prior to the homicide, according to Varso.
In 2007, Escondido Police Department cold-case homicide investigators Chuck Gaylor and Norman Wight reopened the investigation.
"Technological advances not available in 1986 allowed them to have further testing completed on the previously collected blood evidence," Varso said. "The testing revealed the DNA profile of a potential suspect."