ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY NEWS RELEASE
Case # 17CF1275
June 8, 2017
MAN EXTRADITED FROM ARIZONA AND CHARGED WITH 1984 COLD CASE MURDER OF TRANSIENT MAN IN SANTA ANA
SANTA ANA, Calif. – A man was extradited from Arizona and charged with the 1984 cold case murder of a transient man in Santa Ana.
Defendant: John William Zelinski, 61, Tucson, Arizona
Charges: Continue reading
CMPD HAS IDENTIFIED HOMICIDE SUSPECT IN 1997 COLD CASE RAPE-MURDER OF 26-YEAR-OLD FEMALE VICTIM
Case will be submitted to the Orange County District Attorney
COSTA MESA, Calif. – The Costa Mesa Police Department (CMPD) has identified the suspect in the 1997 cold case rape-murder of 26-year-old Sunny Adrienne Sudweeks. The identity of the suspect has been unknown until recently and after extensive follow-up investigation and exhausting all avenues to capture the suspect, CMPD hopes to bring the suspect to justice by making his identity known. Felipe Vianney Hernandez Tellez, 43, has been identified as the homicide suspect who raped and murdered Sudweeks in 1997. Continue reading
Ismael Salgado
ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY NEWS RELEASE
Case # 16CF2404
Date: November 17, 2016
SANTA ANA, Calif. – Two men, who were extradited from Arizona and Illinois, are scheduled to be arraigned tomorrow for the cold case kidnapping and rape of an 11-year-old girl in 1999. Ismael F. Salgado, 36, Chicago, Ill., and Jose Andres Plascencia, 36, Laveen, Ariz., are each charged with one felony count of kidnapping to commit rape and five felony counts of forcible rape with sentencing enhancement allegations for kidnapping. The defendants each face a maximum sentence of 132 years to life in state prison. They are each being held on $1 million bail and are scheduled for a continued arraignment tomorrow, Nov. 18, 2016, at 10:00 a.m. in Department CJ-1, Central Jail, Santa Ana.
At approximately 5:30 p.m. on Feb. 3, 1999, Plascencia and Salgado are accused of driving up to two preteen girls near Jerome Park in Santa Ana and luring them into their vehicle. The defendants are accused of driving away from the park with the girls. The defendants are accused of maintaining control of 11-year-old Jane Doe after the other girl exited the vehicle. Continue reading
Jose Plascencia
Santa Ana Police Department
Advisory: Santa Ana Police Detectives Make Two Arrests in Investigation of 1999 Kidnap and Rape
Arrested: Ismael Salgado (36) Chicago Illinois and Jose Plascencia (36) Laveen Arizona
Santa Ana Police Department Detectives made two arrests connected to the brazen 1999 kidnapping and rape investigation. On February 3, 1999, at 5:30 P.M., an 11-year-old girl was casually walking home with a friend, the second victim, near Jerome Center in Santa Ana. Two adult males pulled their car alongside the girls and tried to entice them inside. The first victim refused to enter and one of the males grabbed her, forcing her inside the car with the second victim. The suspects drove both victims out of the area. Continue reading
A possible cold case murder has come back to haunt a Santa Ana home’s owner after the SAPD received a tip on Thursday afternoon that a body might be buried in the backyard of that home, according to the O.C. Register.
The tip received by the SAPD alleged that a body has been buried for some 30 to 32 years behind a home located at the 600 block of South Center St., according to the SAPD. Continue reading
ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY PRESS RELEASE
Case # 13ZF0162/12CF3070
Date: May 23, 2016
MAN CONVICTED OF 1995 COLD CASE KIDNAPPING AND STABBING-MURDER OF MAN
SANTA ANA, Calif. – A man was convicted today for his role in the 1995 cold case kidnapping and stabbing-murder of a man. Shannon Ray Gries, 45, Santa Ana, pleaded guilty today, May 23, 2016, to one count of felony-murder for murder during the commission of kidnapping.
Co-defendant Diane Tran, 47, Costa Mesa, pleaded guilty on Jan. 24, 2014, to one felony count of voluntary manslaughter with a sentencing enhancement for being armed with a firearm in the commission of a felony. Continue reading
Santa Ana Police Department detectives reopened a 27-year-old case in the hopes of finding the killer who left a woman’s headless body in a dry creek bed, according to ABC News.
They are trying to find the killer and identify the victim, who was found by a man walking his dog at Santiago Park in March 1988, according to the O.C. Register. Continue reading
Santa Ana Police Department
*This case is a 2008 cold case linked through DNA
SANTA ANA – A man is scheduled to be arraigned Monday for entering the home of a girl under 10 years old and sexually assaulting her while she was asleep in her bed. Dustin Lee Morgan, 36, Texarkana, Texas, is charged with one felony count of performing lewd acts upon a child under 14 years old, one felony count of sexual penetration of a child under 10-years-old and a sentencing enhancement allegation for performing lewd acts on a child under 14 during the commission of a burglary. If convicted he faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in state prison. He is scheduled to be arraigned on Monday, April 13, 2015, at 10:00 a.m. in Department CJ-1, Central Jail, Santa Ana.
At approximately 5:00 a.m. on Feb. 8, 2008, the defendant is accused of breaking into the Santa Ana home of Jane Doe. Jane Doe is under the age of 10. Morgan is accused of walking into Jane Doe’s bedroom while she was sleeping. The defendant is accused of pushing the victim’s face down after she woke up and covering Jane Doe’s mouth to prevent her from making any noise. The defendant is accused of keeping his hand over the victim’s mouth while sexually assaulted her. Continue reading
Richard Stanley Sandoval
Orange County District Attorney Press Release
For Immediate Release, Case # 11ZF0125: June 20, 2014
SANTA ANA – A man was convicted yesterday of special circumstances murder of an 84-year-old apartment complex owner in a 1984 cold case. Richard Stanley Sandoval, 60, Santa Ana, was found guilty by a jury of one felony count of special circumstances murder in the commission of rape or attempted rape and faces a sentence of life in state prison without the possibility of parole at his sentencing Aug. 8, 2014, at 9:00 a.m. in Department C-36, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana.
In 1984, 84-year-old Margaret Lenney owned and lived in an Anaheim apartment complex on Winston Road. Sandoval, then 30 years old, was hired by the victim to paint the complex but did a poor job and was fired. He returned to the complex on several occasions to ask to borrow money from tenants. Continue reading
Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, Representing California’s 46th Congressional District
PRESS RELEASE, FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 6, 2013
MEDIA CONTACTS: Sanchez: Barb Solish, 202-226-8373/Conyers: Andrew Schreiber 202-225-6906
REPS. SANCHEZ & CONYERS REQUEST JUDICIARY COMMITTEE HEARING ON UNRESOLVED ALEX ODEH CASE, SANCHEZ SENDS NEW REQUEST TO DOJ
WASHINGTON – Today, Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez (CA-46) and Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (MI-13), Ranking Member of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, wrote a letter to Congressman Bob Goodlatte (VA-6), Chairman of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, requesting a hearing on the unresolved case of Alex Odeh, who was murdered in 1985. The U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on Criminal Justice originally held a hearing on this matter in 1986. Continue reading
Santa Ana Police Department Advisory: Detectives make arrests in 1995 Cold Case Murder
On April 16, 1995 Gonzalo Ramirez (12/06/1970) was kidnapped in Santa Ana. His body was found in the City of Irvine the next day. He was wrapped in fabric, and had been stabbed numerous times. Continue reading
For Immediate Release: April 10, 2012
Susan Kang Schroeder, Chief of Staff, Office: 714-347-8408, Cell: 714-292-2718
Farrah Emami, Spokesperson, Office: 714-347-8405, Cell: 714-323-4486
FOUR MEMBERS OF VIETNAMESE CRIMINAL STREET GANG CONVICTED OF 1995 COLD CASE EXECUTION-STYLE RETALIATORY MURDER
SANTA ANA – Four members of a Vietnamese criminal street gang were convicted today of the 1995 cold case execution-style murder of a fellow gang associate in retaliation for abandoning them while committing a home invasion robbery one day earlier. Anthony Paul Johnson, Jr., 35, Westminster, Giang Thuy Nguyen, 36, Fountain Valley, Tam Hung Nguyen, 36, Riverside, and Truc Ngoc Tran, 34, Santa Ana, were each found guilty by a jury of one felony count of murder and one felony count of conspiracy to commit murder with sentencing enhancement allegations for murder by lying in wait and committing a crime for the benefit of a criminal street gang. The sentencing enhancement against Johnson for murder to avoid arrest was found true. The sentencing enhancements for murder to avoid arrest and crime-bail-crime against Giang Nguyen were found true. The sentencing enhancement for the personal discharge of a firearm against Tam Nguyen was found true. All four defendants face a sentence of life in state prison without the possibility of parole at their sentencing June 8, 2012, at 8:30 a.m. in Department C-43, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana. Continue reading
Advisory: Santa Ana Police Arrest Suspect in 1995 Cold Case Murder
Santa Ana Police Arrest Suspect in 1995 Cold Case Murder
Arrested: Naranjo, Jose Luis (33) Santa Ana
Details: On 9-30-1995 At approximately 2355 hours, officers were dispatched to a shots fired call with a subject down in the area of 2041 S. Hickory. Upon arriving, Officers found the victim down in the street. The victim, later identified as Buddy Sifuentes, had been shot several times in the upper torso and was dead on the scene upon arrival of paramedics.