July 26, 2023 - Fresno Police Department officials report that in the early afternoon of February 24, 1987, the body of a deceased female was found in an open field at the corner of Church and Fig Avenues. When officers arrived, they found a naked female who had been stabbed multiple times. Homicide detectives assigned to the case identified the victim as 22-year-old Jacqueline Denise Henry, a young mother of an infant son. Jacqueline had been reported missing by her family three days earlier. Based upon evidence at the scene, detectives determined that Jacqueline had been murdered several days earlier in the parking lot of a church across the street, then dragged and left in the open field. Despite their efforts, no witnesses were ever located, and the suspect was never identified.

In 2009, the case was reopened by a detective assigned to the Cold Case Unit. After review, several items of evidence originally collected from the scene and autopsy that may have contained DNA evidence were submitted to the California Department of Justice Fresno Regional Laboratory for analysis.

In February of 2022, the Fresno Police Department received a notification from the CAL-DNA Data Bank, identifying 71-year-old Carl Eugene Sears as a possible suspect. Since that time, homicide detectives have worked with our partners at the Fresno County DAs office, culminating in an arrest warrant for Mr. Sears. Mr. Sears, a registered sex offender on parole, was taken into custody on Friday, July 21, 2023, and booked into the Fresno County Jail for murder.

Above Chief Balderrama, along with several of our State and local law enforcement partners, are holding a press conference regarding the arrest of a Cold-case murder suspect. The murder took place in February 1987. Through DNA evidence, a suspect has been identified and arrested.

View video here. 

Source & photos: Fresno Police Department