Teen — a ‘beautiful soul’ — found dead in ravine decades ago. DNA leads to conviction
Nearly three decades ago, 17-year-old Gladys Arellano was found dead at the bottom of a California ravine.
The Boyle Heights teen had been “sexually assaulted, beaten and strangled to death,” the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said in an October 2020 news release.
Her family reported her missing on Jan. 29, 1996, the day before her body was found, after she had not been seen in days, deputies said.
Despite DNA evidence and years of investigation, a suspect, Jose Luis Garcia, was not arrested until 24 years after Arellano’s death, the sheriff’s department said.
Now, more than two decades after Arellano was found dead in Malibu, Garcia was sentenced on Tuesday, Aug. 15, to 18 years and eight months in prison in connection with the death of Arellano, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said in an email to McClatchy News.
Garcia pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter, kidnapping and domestic assault, according to the district attorney’s office. He waived his credit for the just over 1,000 days he has spent in jail since his 2020 arrest.
“She had a beautiful soul,” Samantha Moreno, Gladys’ niece and goddaughter, said during a news conference following Garcia’s arrest in 2020. “She was beautiful, intelligent, gorgeous and had a radiant smile. She had such big dreams for her life.”
DNA leads to arrest
During an autopsy for Arellano, investigators found body fluid evidence, deputies said, and “a DNA profile was uploaded into state and federal DNA databases.”
However, even with DNA evidence and “extensive investigation,” deputies said a suspect was not identified.
It was not until decades later, when there was DNA hit, that investigators would finally identify a suspect, deputies said.
After Los Angeles police arrested Garcia on a domestic assault charge in November 2019, a sample of his DNA was put into the state’s DNA database, according to deputies.
A month later, detectives learned Garcia’s DNA matched DNA evidence from Arellano’s case, deputies said.
Detectives questioned Garcia about Arellano’s death at his Fontana home, the sheriff’s department said.
Deputies said Garcia, who would have been 19 in 1996, gave a DNA sample, which serologists found was a match for the sample taken from Arellano’s body.
While the new DNA sample was being tested, deputies said Garcia moved to Dallas.
Garcia was ultimately arrested on Sept. 29, 2020, and extradited to California nearly month later, according to deputies.
Elizabeth Arellano, Gladys Arellano’s older sister, said during a news conference following Garcia’s arrest that it’s been a struggle to live for decades “not knowing who took her life.”
Elizabeth Arellano said news of Garcia’s arrest felt “surreal.”
“At this moment, it still feels, ‘I don’t know if this is really happening or not,’ but I look forward to looking for justice for her,” Elizabeth Arellano said.
This story was originally published August 17, 2023 at 3:58 PM with the headline "Teen — a ‘beautiful soul’ — found dead in ravine decades ago. DNA leads to conviction."
