Inocente Medina, a 31-year-old man, was found dead on February 15, 1998, at the La Villa Motel in Fontana, California. He was discovered in his room after two unidentified Hispanic male adults were reportedly seen entering the room prior to the homicide. This led investigators to believe that these men may have been directly involved in the incident.
Despite early leads, the case remained unsolved for many years and was classified as a cold case by the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.
In April 2013, a breakthrough occurred when the Sheriff's Cold Case Team arrested a suspect, Artemio Juarez, in Los Angeles for the murder of Inocente Medina. Juarez, who was 41 at the time of his arrest, was apprehended based on evidence gathered over years of investigation. The arrest marked a significant development in solving the 1998 case, providing some hope for justice to Medina's family. Authorities had pursued numerous leads, and the arrest of Juarez represented the culmination of efforts to close a cold case that had lingered for over a decade. However, additional details about the motive and specific circumstances around the homicide remained limited.
Medina’s case is one of many cold cases in San Bernardino County that eventually saw progress after long investigations. The Sheriff’s Department continues to encourage anyone with information related to cold cases like Medina’s to come forward to help bring resolution to these tragic incidents.
