Photo: Russell A Guerrero
FREMONT — Police detectives specializing in cold cases used new DNA technology to identify a suspect in an unsolved 1990 murder. Upon being identified, the suspect was charged in Alameda County on January 17th, following his recent arrest in Arizona.
The timeline for the case spans three decades. On December 17th, 1990, a missing person’s investigation was opened by Fremont police. This was because 30-year-old Jack Upton had failed to report to work for several days.
DNA evidence was found in the car
Officers attempted to make a welfare check at Upton’s apartment in Fremont, but instead they found him dead. Evidence gathered from inside the apartment indicated he was brutally murdered.
In addition, investigators learned the murder victim’s car had been stolen from the apartment complex’s parking lot. One week later, his car was found abandoned at another parking lot in Thousand Oaks, nearly 350 miles away.
Fremont detectives collected blood samples from the victim’s car. Blood found inside the car and blood found inside the victim’s apartment matched. However, the identity of the victim’s suspected killer remained unknown for another 28 years.
In April 2018, Fremont detectives reopened the cold murder case and used the newest DNA technology. Forensic evidence collected in 1990 was matched against the U.S. National DNA Database maintained by the FBI.
Bingo: A man never previously contacted by authorities was identified as the suspected murderer in the 1990 case. The suspect, 52-year-old Russell A. Guerrero was arrested at his home in Tempe, AZ.
In addition to murder, Guerrero faces felony charges for use of a deadly weapon and causing great bodily injury.
