Sheriff Team to Probe 800 Unsolved Killings

The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday established a new Sheriff’s Department team that will investigate the more than 800 unsolved homicides that have occurred in Orange County since the early 1960s.

The five-member team will use advanced forensic, fingerprinting and firearms technology in an attempt to crack murder cases that stumped the original investigators.

Sheriff’s Department officials said new DNA analysis will be especially helpful in examining blood, hair and other evidence that older investigative methods could not detect.

Supervisors enthusiastically endorsed the effort, which will cost about $400,000 and be funded through the existing Sheriff’s Department budget.

Supervisor Jim Silva dedicated his vote to Arlene Hoffman, a former secretary who was slain outside her Laguna Niguel home in 1994 by someone who shot her with an arrow. It is one of the cases that remains unsolved.

“There is a lot of grief out there with unsolved murders,” Silva said. “I pray that this brings people to justice who literally got away with murder.”