DA charges Santa Clara man with 1987 power cord murder
(L) Victim Jesus Ibarra. (R) Booking photo of Joseph Abeyta. Photo: Santa Clara County DA
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office on Friday announced that it has charged a Santa Clara man with the murder of a local machine and sheet metal worker with a power cord roughly 40 years ago.
Prosecutors charged Joseph Anthony Abeyta with strangling Jesus Ibarra, 46, to death with a power cord in April 1987. He was scheduled to be arraigned on Friday afternoon but declined to appear in court.
It wasn't immediately clear who the defense attorney would be representing him.
Evidence showed the two men knew each other and that Abeyta may have stolen Ibarra’s gold chain necklace, a ring, and his car, which was found burned near the suspect’s home on Peach Court, prosecutors said.
As prosecutors tell it, Ibarra was found by family members dead inside his apartment on Nordale Avenue in San Jose. His car, which was burned up inside, was recovered by police on Peach Court a day before he was found.
The Santa Clara County Medical Examiner determined Ibarra died due to blunt force trauma to the neck.
No suspects were identified at the time, and the case went cold until DNA evidence tested this year linked Abeyta to Ibarra’s body and other places at the crime scene, prosecutors said.
Authorities say the suspect's DNA showed up on the victim's bicep and thigh, a shirt, a beer can, and a semen stain on a blanket. It was also found on the power cord they believe was the murder weapon.
"And this defendant's DNA was on that electrical cord, which was tragically, horribly, wrapped around the victim's neck," says Michael Gilman, Deputy District Attorney for Santa Clara County.
County records also showed that one month after the death, Abeyta was living on Peach Court, less than one block from where Ibarra’s car was recovered.
Abeyta had past arrests for substance abuse and robbery, among other things. He was in custody for weapons and identity theft charges when the DNA match happened this year.
This is the third cold case homicide filed by the DA's office this year. Officials will try again to arraign Abeyta on Tuesday.
They're hopeful he'll agree to show up for court then.