For practically 36 years, the one who stabbed 22-year-old Jacqueline Denise Henry to demise walked free.
Final week, the household of the beloved Fresno mom lastly obtained some closure. A 71-year-old registered intercourse offender was arrested on suspicion of killing Henry, after his DNA matched that of the possible killer.
Fresno Police Division officers responded on Feb. 24, 1987, to a report of a physique present in a area on the nook of Church and Fig avenues. A deceased girl was discovered mendacity face-down with a number of stab wounds.
The lady was recognized by way of her fingerprints as Henry, a Fresno resident and the mom of an toddler boy. Henry had been reported lacking three days prior and in line with an post-mortem report, she was killed three to 5 days earlier than her physique was found. She was most probably sexually assaulted and killed simply outdoors the Pearly Grove Baptist Church earlier than being dragged throughout the road and left within the area, in line with authorities.
The case went chilly after detectives couldn’t discover any leads or suspects.
“At the moment, again in 1987, there have been no Ring cameras. There have been no smartphones,” stated Fresno Police Chief Paco Balderrama throughout a Tuesday information convention. “There was no ShotSpotter. There have been no eyewitnesses. And DNA proof was model new. We had no results in the instances and no witnesses. Though they labored extensively, they weren’t capable of finding the killer on this specific case.”
In March 2009, murder detectives reopened the case and submitted proof gathered in 1987 to the CAL-DNA knowledge financial institution within the hopes a lead would emerge. In February 2022, the division acquired a letter from the state saying there was a possible DNA match to the suspected killer.
Carl Eugene Sears, a registered intercourse offender, was 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 obtained a second pattern of the suspect, which was a precise match.
On Friday, the day after what would’ve been Henry’s 59th birthday, Carl Eugene Sears, a registered intercourse offender, was arrested. Sears was on probation on the time of his arrest.
He was charged with first-degree homicide with enhancements for felony homicide for allegedly killing Henry whereas committing a sexual assault, in line with Fresno County Dist. Atty. Lisa Smittcamp. He was additionally charged with weapons enhancements for allegedly utilizing a knife.
Sears is being held at Fresno County Jail on greater than $1 million bail. He appeared in court docket Monday for arraignment however his listening to was continued till Aug. 7 for the general public defender to rule out any conflicts of curiosity.
Sears was convicted of a number of felonies between 1984 and 2002, in line with Smittcamp. He was convicted of violating a toddler in 1980 in Los Angeles County and of committing an assault in Los Angeles in 1979.
In the course of the Tuesday convention, Jean Whittle, Henry’s older sister, thanked the Fresno Police Division and everybody who labored on the case.
“Jacqueline was a stupendous baby,” Whittle stated. “Jacqueline was my child. She would babysit for me. If it weren’t for her on the time — I used to be elevating my youngsters and attempting to work, I couldn’t afford it, the childcare. Jacqueline is not only any individual. Jacqueline was a really candy individual.”
Louis Goodman, who was 3 years previous when his mom was killed, additionally expressed gratitude to the Fresno Police Division.
“We don’t actually discuss that a lot about my mother however once we do, it’s all great things,” he stated.
Connie Meux, Henry’s sister, implored prosecutors to search the demise penalty, which is authorized in California, however most frequently utilized in crimes of particular circumstances, together with homicide.
“I’d wish to ask that he will get the demise penalty and never simply go to jail for all times,” she stated.
