Enough evidence in case against accused 1987 killer, Fresno judge rules
The judge has heard evidence for three days ruled there is enough evidence for the case to go to trial.
FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- New details are coming to light at the Fresno County Courthouse in a cold case nearly 40 years old.
Carl Eugene Sears, who is already a convicted sex offender, faces one count of murder for the death of Jacqueline Denise Henry.
Henry was 22 years old when Fresno police say she was stabbed multiple times in 1987.
Officers found her body in a field at the corner of Church and Fig Avenues in Southwest Fresno.
"It was hard to see her location because of the dirt embankment with grass," former manager of the Fresno Police Department Crime Scene Bureau Mack McLaughlin said on Thursday.
"Until you walked into the field, through the weeds, you could not see the victim from the roadway."
There were no witnesses to what happened and no cameras or technology in the late 80s that would have captured the crime.
Advancements in DNA technology led investigators to Sears in 2022.
Sears has since pleaded not guilty, and now prosecutors must show they have enough evidence for a trial.
They called former Fresno Police investigator Mack McLaughlin to the stand.
"They pointed out some possible blood stains in the dirt," McLaughlin said. "Also, a shoe print in the dirt below the window."
The defense pressed the investigator on mistakes in a police report, highlighting some of the challenges with evidence that is decades old.
As the court process works out, it has been emotional for the victim's supporters.
Two of Henry's loved ones testified earlier in the week, and they made their voices heard last summer when police arrested Sears.
"Give him the death penalty," Henry's sister Connie Jones said shortly after Sears' arrest last July. "He's a monster. He doesn't deserve to go nowhere but to death."
The judge has heard evidence for three days, and late Thursday, he ruled there is enough evidence for the case to go to trial.
Sears is now due back in court on April 25 for a procedural hearing.
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