On October 25, 2011, Raquel Estrada, a 53-year-old Hispanic woman, was found stabbed more than 30 times in the kitchen of her Yorba Linda, California, home. Her son Juan Herrera, 34, was discovered in the hallway with over 60 stab wounds; both deaths were treated as homicides.The investigation initially produced an arrest: Estrada’s 24-year-old son Eder Herrera was held on $2 million bail and charged with the murders after a witness account and surveillance footage suggested a man resembling him near the scene. He remained jailed for months before prosecutors dropped the charges and he was released as the case developed.New forensic evidence later pointed to Itzcoatl Izzy Ocampo, a 23-year-old former Marine.

DNA from Ocampo’s home matched samples from the Yorba Linda crime scene, and the excessive stab wounds mirrored a pattern in four other killings of homeless men in Orange County for which Ocampo had been charged. Ocampo was charged with six counts of murder, including the deaths of Raquel Estrada and Juan Herrera, with special circumstances noted.The victims’ family and the community were left reeling by the brutality and the revelation that the suspect had known at least one Herrera brother.

Anyone with information about Raquel Estrada or the case is asked to come forward.