Debbie Hawk development giving hope to unsolved Valley cases

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Hanford Police say the murder of Debbie Hawk was never a cold case because it was solved.

Three years after she went missing from her Hanford home, her ex-husband was found guilty of her murder.

It was a high-profile case and came back into the spotlight when the Kings County Sheriff announced this week Debbie's remains were finally found, adding that it could possibly bring some closure for her family and the Hanford community.

Twenty miles south in Corcoran, there's still no closure for a decades-old double homicide that remains unsolved. But investigators there say it's anything but cold.

"It was a brutal stabbing case that took the life of a 21-year-old female and her three-year-old son," said Corcoran Police Deputy Chief Gary Cramer.

Cramer says the Hawk discovery has caused this department to pause and think about their cases, including Carol Bella, who was killed with her son Bobby at this home on San Joaquin Avenue.

Nearly 34 years later, Corcoran Police are still investigating the murder, but Bella's family still has no answers.

"They described it as a roller coaster," Cramer said. "You know every time they see our face bringing in some new information or explaining some new technology that we're going to use to analyze evidence, it certainly brings some feelings of hope, but it also reminds them of the frustration that has occurred over the last 30 plus years."

But Cramer says technology has come a long way in that time. They're currently trying to extract DNA from evidence in a lab. They've tested some pieces of evidence more than once and have re-interviewed original witnesses.

"We know there are witnesses out there, that know something, some of them we have found, we have interviewed, but specifically there are a couple of people that we don't know who they are but we know for sure they have information," Cramer said.

Police believe Marcos Vallejo may have some answers. He's still a person of interest in the case but has never been arrested.