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Could Police Have Found the California Hitchhiker Murderer?
In solving a 1996 cold case, investigators may have finally cracked a decades-old mystery.
Detectives in California have announced they have finally discovered who killed a 32-year-old woman from Sonoma County in 1996 — and she may be far from his only victim.
Michelle Marie Veal’s nude body was discovered on July 15th 1996 by a survey crew working at the side of a deserted road north of West Railroad Avenue. She had multiple skull fractures and a broken neck consistent with blunt force trauma, and the horrific discovery was made on her daughter’s seventh birthday.
Although an extensive investigation was carried out, no leads could be uncovered and no suspect was ever apprehended for the murder. Slowly, the case went cold.
Then, in April 2021, the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office Violent Crimes Investigations decided to take a fresh look at some of its cold cases. They pulled Michelle Veal’s box off a shelf and reviewed the evidence.
One chance — and a hit
According to ABC 7 News, there was a single sample of biological evidence from Michelle’s hand that had been possible due to the valiant way in which she fought her killer, and detectives…
