Eighteen-year-old Janelle Cruz was found murdered in her family’s Irvine home on May 5, 1986, after staying behind when her family went on vacation. She had been at home the night before with a male friend; he left late and she was alone. A real estate agent showing the house the next day discovered that Janelle had been raped and bludgeoned to death in her bedroom. The medical examiner ruled blunt force trauma to the head the cause of death. Investigators noted bloodstains in the kitchen and near the front door, indicating a struggle, and reported a missing pipe wrench from the backyard as a possible murder weapon.

Biological evidence was collected but initially produced no suspect. In 2001 DNA testing linked the crime to the serial offender known as the Original Night Stalker and East Area Rapist, later called the Golden State Killer, connecting Janelle’s murder to a string of other rapes and killings across California. A later investigative genetic genealogy effort eventually identified a suspect and led to an arrest in 2018. Does anyone have memories of Encina in May 1986 or information about Janelle’s last days that could shed light on what happened?