Teri Figueroa | San Diego Union-Tribune
A 67-year-old man was sentenced Friday to fifteen years to life in jail for fatally stabbing a retiree within the sufferer’s Escondido condominium in 1986 — a chilly case police stated was solved by DNA, fingerprints and advances in pictures.
Nathan Mathis pleaded responsible in San Diego Superior Court docket to second-degree homicide within the loss of life of Richard Finney, who was stabbed 37 instances throughout the frenzied assault 36 years in the past.
The primary stab was to his head, Deputy District Legal professional Tom Manning stated. The blow bent the knife, so the assailant grabbed a second one from Finney’s kitchen. The deadly wound was to Finney’s again.
Finney, 75, was a retired touring salesman and Military veteran. He was partially paralyzed from a stroke, however fought again in opposition to his assailant, Manning stated. The attacker took about $300, a hoop and some different objects, together with a gown, a mustache trimmer and bars of cleaning soap.
On the morning of Nov. 13, 1986, a house healthcare employee discovered Finney lifeless in his first-floor condominium on East Mission Avenue close to North Juniper Road.
The scene yielded fingerprints and bloody handprint. However it might be many years earlier than science caught as much as the proof.
“This case demonstrates the significance of the DA’s workplace having a chilly case unit in addition to legislation enforcement having detectives devoted to chilly instances,” Manning stated Friday. “The credit score on this case goes to the Escondido forensic proof crew.”
In 2007, a chilly case investigator delved into the case and organized for the DNA and palm-print proof to be run by databases. The prints yielded nothing, however the DNA revealed a combination of two individuals — the sufferer and, presumably, his killer. Nevertheless, the DNA database turned up no hits.
In 2016, the division’s forensics crew took high-quality images of fingerprints on a rest room faucet knob taken 30 years earlier in Finney’s condominium.
The more-detailed picture, coupled with advances in fingerprint comparability databases, led investigators to Mathis, the division stated. His DNA matched that discovered on the crime scene.
He was arrested in 2018 within the Ontario, Calif. condominium, the place he lived together with his spouse and two grandchildren. Manning stated Mathis had spent a number of years as a minister.
When Mathis was arrested in 2018, Escondido police stated it marked the division’s longest stretch between the date that a crime occurred and the arrest of a suspect.
Manning stated Mathis didn't make a press release at his sentencing listening to.
This story initially appeared in San Diego Union-Tribune.
©2022 The San Diego Union-Tribune. Go to sandiegouniontribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content material Company, LLC.