San Mateo County prosecutors say 1989 cold case murder is ‘closed’ after jury acquits main suspect
The case of a San Mateo County woman who was sexually assaulted and then killed on San Bruno Mountain more than 25 years ago is now considered “closed” after jurors acquitted a Bay Area man accused of the slaying, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Gabriel Rey O’Neill, 45, was arrested in 2014 in connection with the slaying of Sheila Lorraine Hatcher, 27, in 1989. After the initial investigation faltered, the case went cold until 2013, when Hatcher’s family asked detectives to reexamine it.
Hatcher’s body was found in a ravine by two hikers, but detectives were unable to link any suspects to the crime. The coroner’s office concluded that she had been sexually assaulted and died of blunt force trauma.
Detectives resubmitted some of the crime scene evidence for forensics testing and hit a match in O’Neill, a registered sex offender, authorities said at the time of his arrest. He was arrested in June 2014 near his Bay Area home and went on trial last month.
After weeks of testimony, a jury deliberated for four days and acquitted O’Neill on Monday afternoon, said San Mateo County Dist. Atty. Steve Wagstaffe.
“We now view the case as closed,” he said.
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