For just about 36 years, the one who stabbed 22-year-old Jacqueline Denise Henry to dying walked loose.
Closing week, the circle of relatives of the loved Fresno mom in the end were given some closure. A 71-year-old registered intercourse culprit used to be arrested on suspicion of killing Henry, after his DNA matched that of the possible killer.
Fresno Police Division officials spoke back on Feb. 24, 1987, to a record of a frame present in a box on the nook of Church and Fig avenues. A deceased girl used to be discovered mendacity face-down with a couple of stab wounds.
The girl used to be recognized thru her fingerprints as Henry, a Fresno resident and the mummy of an toddler boy. Henry were reported lacking 3 days prior and consistent with an post-mortem record, she used to be killed 3 to 5 days earlier than her frame used to be found out. She used to be possibly sexually assaulted and killed simply outdoor the Pearly Grove Baptist Church earlier than being dragged around the side road and left within the box, consistent with government.
The case went chilly after detectives couldn’t in finding any leads or suspects.
“At the moment, again in 1987, there have been no Ring cameras. There have been no smartphones,” mentioned Fresno Police Leader Paco Balderrama all the way through a Tuesday information convention. “There used to be no ShotSpotter. There have been no eyewitnesses. And DNA proof used to be logo new. We had no ends up in the circumstances and no witnesses. Even supposing they labored widely, they weren’t ready to search out the killer on this explicit case.”
In March 2009, murder detectives reopened the case and submitted proof amassed in 1987 to the CAL-DNA information financial institution within the hopes a lead would emerge. In February 2022, the dep. gained a letter from the state pronouncing there used to be a possible DNA fit to the suspected killer.
Carl Eugene Sears, a registered intercourse culprit, used to be arrested Friday within the 1987 killing of 22-year-old Jacqueline Henry.
(Fresno Police Division)
Detectives went again to the unique proof and in addition received a 2nd pattern of the suspect, which used to be an actual fit.
On Friday, the day after what would’ve been Henry’s 59th birthday, Carl Eugene Sears, a registered intercourse culprit, used to be arrested. Sears used to be on probation on the time of his arrest.
He used to be charged with first-degree homicide with improvements for criminal homicide for allegedly killing Henry whilst committing a sexual attack, consistent with Fresno County Dist. Atty. Lisa Smittcamp. He used to be additionally charged with guns improvements for allegedly the usage of a knife.
Sears is being held at Fresno County Prison on greater than $1 million bail. He seemed in courtroom Monday for arraignment however his listening to used to be persevered till Aug. 7 for the general public defender to rule out any conflicts of pastime.
Sears used to be convicted of a number of felonies between 1984 and 2002, consistent with Smittcamp. He used to be convicted of violating a kid in 1980 in Los Angeles County and of committing an attack in Los Angeles in 1979.
Throughout the Tuesday convention, Jean Whittle, Henry’s older sister, thanked the Fresno Police Division and everybody who labored at the case.
“Jacqueline used to be an exquisite kid,” Whittle mentioned. “Jacqueline used to be my child. She would babysit for me. If it weren’t for her on the time — I used to be elevating my kids and seeking to paintings, I couldn’t have enough money it, the childcare. Jacqueline isn’t just someone. Jacqueline used to be an overly candy particular person.”
Louis Goodman, who used to be 3 years outdated when his mom used to be killed, additionally expressed gratitude to the Fresno Police Division.
“We don’t truly communicate that a lot about my mother but if we do, it’s all excellent stuff,” he mentioned.
Connie Meux, Henry’s sister, implored prosecutors to search the dying penalty, which is felony in California, however maximum ceaselessly utilized in crimes of particular instances, together with homicide.
“I’d like to invite that he will get the dying penalty and now not simply pass to jail for lifestyles,” she mentioned.
