Retired truck driver charged in decades-old killing of young mother found in Riverside County

A retired cross-country truck driver has been charged within the chilly case killing of a younger mom whose physique was discovered close to an interstate in Riverside County practically 30 years in the past, officers introduced Friday.

The suspect, 67-year-old Douglas Thomas, is already in custody in Texas, the place he was arrested in late Could on suspicion of killing a girl there in 1992.

Now, the lately retired truck driver has been linked to the killing of Sherri Herrera, a 30-year-old mom of 4 from Tulare, the Riverside County District Lawyer’s Workplace mentioned.

On March 30, 1993, Herrera’s physique was discovered on the eastbound Hayfield Highway onramp to I-10 within the Desert Middle space of Riverside County. She was final seen alive only a few days earlier than her physique was discovered.

Thomas had traveled extensively all through the US throughout his greater than 40 years as a truck driver, in accordance with authorities.

He was solely tied to the 1992 Texas killing after authorities discovered a DNA match to proof from the crime scene.

Investigators with a Riverside County chilly case staff then discovered that Thomas’s DNA was additionally related to proof gathered through the investigation into Herrera’s homicide, officers mentioned.

Riverside County investigators traveled to Texas and interviewed Thomas about Herrera’s killing.

Based mostly on their investigation, the DA’s Workplace charged Thomas with homicide, together with a particular circumstance allegation of homicide through the fee of a rape.

Thomas will first be prosecuted in Texas for the 1992 killing, after which the DA’s Workplace in Riverside County will request his extradition to California to face prosecution for Herrera’s killing.

Authorities are asking that anybody who could have any details about the sufferer or suspect to contact the Riverside County Regional Chilly Case Murder Staff at 951-955-2777.