ANTIOCH, Calif. (CBS News) — A notorious 37-year-old cold case has finally been closed in northern California, CBS San Francisco reports.
Police arrested 63-year-old Mitchell Bacom Monday evening on suspicion of kidnapping, raping and murdering a teenage girl — who was later identified as 14-year-old Suzanne Bombardier — while she was babysitting in Antioch in 1980.
A fisherman discovered Bombardier’s body in the San Joaquin River days later. She had been stabbed once in the heart.
After decades with few leads, investigators reopened the case in 2015 using DNA evidence.
“Thanks to advances in forensic science, obtaining this positive identification for Suzanne’s killer became a reality,” Antioch Police Chief Tammany Brooks said.
Bacom’s arrest closes the oldest unsolved murder within the Antioch Police Department.
