Investigators thought they knew who dedicated a brutal double homicide in Monterey County 32 years in the past however didn’t have sufficient proof to make an arrest.
That was till Monday, when Monterey County Sheriff’s officers arrested an 85-year-old man within the 1991 slaying of George Smith and Eva Thompson. New DNA testing appeared to play a job within the arrest.
Monterey County District Legal professional Jeannine M. Pacioni introduced Tuesday morning that Fresno resident Ira Ulyesses Bastian had been charged with two counts of first-degree homicide. The costs carry particular circumstance allegations that Bastian murdered the 2 victims throughout a housebreaking.
Bastian pleaded not responsible to each expenses in a Salinas courthouse Tuesday, in keeping with Deputy Dist. Atty. Matthew L’Heureux.
Fresno resident Ira Ulyesses Bastian, proven in a mug shot, was charged with two counts of first-degree homicide.
(Monterey County Sheriff’s Division)
It’s unclear if Bastian was represented by a county public defender. Makes an attempt to succeed in him had been unsuccessful. He’s due again in courtroom on July 26 for a preliminary listening to.
His arrest, nonetheless, was handled as an extended overdue victory by the district lawyer’s workplace.
“It’s at all times actually tough to abdomen the sort of violence,” L’Heureux stated in an interview with The Occasions. “It’s additionally extraordinarily rewarding, with the help of others, to deal with who wronged any person and to do one thing about it.”
On the time of the murders, then 67-year-old Smith and his spouse Anna ran a well-liked diner, Smith’s Restaurant, within the unincorporated city of Prunedale, about eight miles north of Salinas on Freeway 101.
The couple lived on a property positioned on the grounds of the restaurant, now shuttered, together with Anna Smith’s mom, then 79-year-old Eva Thompson.
Anna Smith returned from working errands within the night of Nov. 11, 1991 and located her mom and husband “brutally stabbed to demise,” in keeping with the district lawyer’s workplace.
George Smith was doing bookkeeping at a desk when he was murdered, in keeping with an area tv report. The bed-ridden Thompson was additionally stabbed to demise.
Each victims displayed defensive accidents, in keeping with L’Heureux, that means they tried to battle off their attacker.
Bastian, then 52, was a former Smith’s restaurant worker, having beforehand labored there a couple of 12 months and a half earlier, in keeping with L’Heureux.
Neighbors speculated that the Smith’s buried bars of gold on their property which will have been what Bastian was after, L’Heureux stated.
“They had been rumors that got here out of this case and I suppose I don’t know for positive in the event that they did or didn’t [bury gold],” he stated. “What I can say is that the stabbings occurred in fee of the housebreaking.”
Bastian had been thought of a suspect for years however was by no means arrested.
“It wasn’t till the latest investigation that everybody concerned felt assured sufficient to show his guilt past an affordable doubt,” L’Heureux stated.
He wouldn’t affirm if a homicide weapon had been recovered or what finally led to Bastian’s arrest.
Pacioni famous that the Monterey County Sheriff’s Workplace pursued the case for many years and submitted DNA proof for testing alongside the best way. She added that this 12 months “a further spherical of DNA testing yielded ample proof to assist the arrest and submitting of felony expenses.”
Residents Towards Murder, a San Rafael-based nonprofit and anti-crime group, supplied a $50,000 reward on the time.
“Once you take a look at all these chilly instances, it’s actually solely two issues that led to arrests,” stated Jan Miller, the group’s co-founder. “It’s both deathbed confessions or DNA.”
Bastian had been dwelling independently in Fresno with the help of a caregiver when he was arrested on Monday.
“I’m conscious that there have been investigators who’ve been engaged on this for many years and I’m comparatively new to it,” L’Heureux stated. “We are able to’t overlook, nonetheless, that these had been good folks dwelling their day-to-day lives and didn’t deserve this.”
