Teen fatally shot in 1991, CA officials say. Investigator’s ‘hunch’ helps close case
After an investigator followed a “hunch,” the suspect in a teenager’s 1991 cold case killing has been found, California prosecutors say.
Investigators tracked down suspect Gerardo Aguilar, who once lived under a different name in Ohio and died in 2007, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office said in an Aug. 21 news release.
“It’s never too late ... People may forget,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in the release, “but victims’ families and my office do not.”
Raymond Ojeda, 14, was fatally shot “during a gang-related confrontation” in San Jose on Sept. 28, 1991, prosecutors said.
“A juvenile arrest warrant was issued for Aguilar,” but authorities could not find him, prosecutors said.
For decades, his whereabouts were unknown.
Then, earlier this year, as the district attorney’s office’s cold case team was working the case, investigator John Cary learned Aguilar had a sister who went by the last name “Mulato.”
Cary searched for “Gerardo Mulato” and, in doing so, found a man who once lived in Forest Park, Ohio, and “looked a lot like the suspect,” prosecutors said.
Investigators confirmed the two men were the same person through DNA analysis, according to prosecutors.
Aguilar was arrested in 2004 following an assault with a baseball bat in Springfield, Ohio, prosecutors said.
Three years later, Aguilar saw FBI agents “installing a tracking device on his car,” prosecutors said.
At the time, the FBI was investigating him for possible drug trafficking, prosecutors said.
Aguilar, “apparently believing they were car thieves,” drew his gun, and an agent fatally shot him, according to prosecutors.
This story was originally published August 22, 2024 at 7:09 AM with the headline "Teen fatally shot in 1991, CA officials say. Investigator’s ‘hunch’ helps close case."
