Description: Learn how the power of DNA forensic science and technology have cracked cold cases.  DA Anne Marie Schubert shares her passion for DNA forensics and highlights cold cases from the 70s and 80s, including the East Area Rapist/Golden State Killer. 

Show Notes: District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert is nationally known for forensic DNA and cold case prosecutions.  Schubert talks about her background, experience and passion for pursuing justice through DNA evidence and cold case prosecutions.  Schubert believes DNA is the most powerful tool to not only identify and hold perpetrators accountable, but to also exonerate the innocent.   

Some notable cold cases are highlighted, including the recent arrest and pending prosecution of Joseph DeAngelo for what has been coined the East Area Rapist, Golden State Killer.  The 2012 capital murder cold case against Richard Hirschfeld for the 1980 UC Davis Sweetheart Murders, the 1977 murder of 15-year-old Penny Parker and 1989 murder of 80-year-old Sophia McAllister are also discussed. 

Schubert presents other positive developments that came out of pursuing these cold cases, including the passage of Prop 69, the Dead Inmate Project and a recent arrest of a Nevada prison inmate who was linked to a series of cold case crimes.  

Schubert shares her thoughts on how far DNA forensics and technology have come and new innovative ways it is helping to solve cold cases.    

About District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert

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Tags: District Attorney, Anne Marie Schubert, Cold Cases, Cold Case Prosecutions, DNA, DNA Evidence, DNA Hit, Forensic Science, Justice, East Area Rapist, Golden State Killer, True Crime, Justice Journal

Description: How the cold case prosecution for the 1980 murders of two UC Davis students unfolded over 30+ years.  Part 1 gives background and history of the case - who the victims were, what happened to them - and takes you through the early investigation from 1980 to 2002. 

Show Notes: The lead prosecutor, Dawn Bladet, and investigator, Ron Garverick, discuss the cold case prosecution of Richard Hirschfield.  In 1980, Hirschfield murdered UC Davis students John Riggins and Sabrina Gonsalves – often called the UC Davis Sweetheart Murders.

Bladet and Garverick set the scene of what the town of Davis and Sacramento region was like in 1980, and tell us about John and Sabrina.  The discussion goes back in time, describing the evening John and Sabrina went missing and the events that soon followed - from the families reporting them missing, to locating the van they were driving, to the discovery of their bodies and how that discovery affected the Riggins and Gonsalves families. 

Bladet and Garverick talk through the twists and turns the case took giving the history and general timeline of the investigation, including the pursuit of the Hunt Group who were charged in Yolo County for the murders.  On the eve of their trial, they were exonerated by DNA. 

This episode ends at the point where DNA taken from a blanket at the crime scene gets a DNA hit in 2002 to an unknown suspect, turning the case in a completely new direction. 

This case was featured on 48 Hours (https://www.cbsnews.com/video/the-sweetheart-murders-3/).

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Tags: 

District Attorney, Cold Cases, Cold Case Prosecutions, DNA, DNA Evidence, DNA Hit, Forensic Science, UC Davis, Sweetheart Murders, Justice, Capital Murder, Death Penalty, True Crime, Justice Journal

Description: How the cold case prosecution for the 1980 murders of two UC Davis students unfolded over 30+ years.  Part 2 picks up with the 2002 DNA hit to an unknown suspect, Richard Hirschfield, the new investigation that followed and preparing the case for a capital murder trial. 

Show Notes: The big break in the case came in 2002 when a DNA sample from a blanket at the crime scene provided a DNA hit to Richard Hirschfield.  Getting the DNA hit was just the beginning.  Bladet and Garverick talk about the investigation and building the case from that point. 

Hirschfield was someone who was never on the radar, an unknown suspect.  They share what they quickly learned about who Hirschfield was, about his life, connections to the Sacramento region and his past criminal history. 

Garverick explains the process of putting the many pieces of the investigation together - like a puzzle - and filling the holes.  Bladet explains the trial preparation and challenges with this cold case, including 80 banker boxes full of discovery (documents/materials), witnesses passing away, memories fading and the evidence chain of custody over many decades -among others. 

This case was featured on 48 Hours (https://www.cbsnews.com/video/the-sweetheart-murders-3/).

Follow us @SacCountyDA on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google+ and find us on YouTube.

Tags: District Attorney, Cold Cases, Cold Case Prosecutions, DNA, DNA Evidence, DNA Hit, Forensic Science, UC Davis, Sweetheart Murders, Justice, Capital Murder, Death Penalty, True Crime, Justice Journal