A cold case team of San Jose homicide detectives and Santa Clara prosecutors reopened a 37-year-old killing and arrested a man who was 18 at the time.
Once the suspect was identified, police didn’t have to look far. Joseph Abeyta, now 55, was in custody in Santa Clara County Jail for an unrelated incident, police said.
On April 22, 1987, police found a man with an electrical cord wrapped around his neck about 8 p.m. in the 600 block of Nordale Ave., in the Rockspring neighborhood. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
No suspect was identified at the time.
Earlier this year, the case was reopened by police and the district attorney’s office. Advances in crime lab technology pointed detectives toward Abeyta, police said.
The motive and circumstances surrounding the killing are under investigation, police said.
This is the ninth cold case homicide solved this year, police said. Anyone with information about this case is asked to contact Detective Sgt. Van Den Broeck (phone 408-277-5283) or Detective Estantino (408-277-5283).
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