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KEYT
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. - The Santa Barbara County Sheriff s Office says it is reopening a 45-year-old homicide cold case.
On Tuesday the sheriff s office announced detectives were investigating the death of 16-year-old Paul Ornelas who was found dead in the Goleta area nearly 45 years ago.
Ornelas body was found near the railroad track at the Turnpike Road overpass on June 21, 1975. His death was quickly ruled a homicide, but after several years of investigation, the case went cold with no suspects ever being brought into custody.
The sheriff s office said Ornelas was a Santa Barbara resident with a loving family and deep local ties. His death left his family with lingering grief, the sheriff s office said.
Santa Barbara County reopens 1975 teen murder investigation
April 6, 2021
Paul Ornelas
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office reopened a 45-year-old homicide case this week with hopes that rapid DNA testing can help find a murderer.
On June 21, 1975, the body of 16-year-old Paul Ornelas was discovered near the railroad tracks at the Turnpike Road overpass in an unincorporated area of Santa Barbara. Investigators quickly deemed the teen’s death a homicide and detectives conducted a lengthy investigation that spanned several years.
But despite numerous interviews and various investigative techniques, no suspects were arrested.
“A young Santa Barbara resident with a loving family and deep local ties, Ornelas’ unsolved murder has left his family with lingering grief,” the sheriff’s office said in a press release. “Now, thanks to advancements in DNA technology and forensics processing methods, this cold case investigation is being re-opened and assigned to detecti
SANTA BARBARA, Calif.
Detectives are reopening the investigation into the decades-old unsolved killing of a teenage boy near Santa Barbara with the help of DNA technology that didn’t exist at the time.
The body of 16-year-old Paul Ornelas was found near railroad tracks in an unincorporated area on June 21, 1975, but an investigation over several years never led to arrests, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office said this week.
“Ornelas’ unsolved murder has left his family with lingering grief,” the office said.
Now, investigators have a tool called the ANDE Rapid DNA instrument that has been successfully used in critical cases such as 2019 Conception dive boat fire that killed 34 people off Santa Cruz Island. In that case the device was used to rapidly identify the dead.