WATSONVILLE — Police have announced the arrest of 39-year-old David Saavedra of Fresno county, concluding a case thought to have gone cold 15 years ago.
In May of 2001, a 20-year-old developmentally disabled female walked away from her caretaker while he was using an ATM and went missing for several hours. She was eventually found that evening walking along Riverside Drive a few miles from her last known location. Upon her discovery, police made a grim discovery — she’d been the victim of a sexual assault.
The case was investigated for several months until all leads were exhausted and the case went cold. Then, in August of this year, detectives received a lead based on forensic evidence submitted by the California DOJ’s DNA laboratory.
With that, the case was reopened. The evidence pointed to 39-year-old David Saavedra, formerly of Watsonville. An arrest warrant was secured and detectives paid him a visit… at the Fresno County Jail where he was housed on an unrelated charge of domestic violence. In the 15 years since the case went cold, another case had been uncovered that had been connected to Saavedra. The second case also involved a young victim, an 8-year-old girl.
Saavedra has now been formally connected with both cases and will be held on $500,000 warrant at the jail. Once proper procedures are in place, he will then be extradited to Santa Cruz County to face additional charges.
