Executive Summary
- Brian Walton, 63, has been arrested for the 1996 murder of Claudia Guevara in Los Angeles County.
- DNA evidence linked Walton to the victim, who was found sexually assaulted and stabbed.
- Prosecutors filed special circumstance allegations of murder during rape and sodomy.
- The District Attorney affirmed that investigators never ceased their pursuit of justice in the 30-year cold case.
Authorities in Los Angeles County have arrested a 63-year-old man in connection with the 1996 murder of Claudia Guevara, a cold case that remained unsolved for nearly three decades. According to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, Brian Walton has been charged with the murder of the 23-year-old woman after DNA evidence linked him to the crime.
Guevara was reported missing by her brother on February 20, 1996. Investigators stated that she failed to return home after two co-workers dropped her off at a bus stop in El Monte, California. Her nude body was discovered the following day in a drainage ditch adjacent to Encanto Parkway. The Los Angeles County Coroner determined that the Temple City resident had been sexually assaulted and stabbed in the neck.
Prosecutors allege that DNA evidence recovered from the scene definitively linked Walton to the murder. Officials noted that there is no indication Walton and Guevara knew each other prior to the attack. Walton has been charged with one count of murder, accompanied by special circumstance allegations of murder during the commission of a rape and murder during the commission of sodomy.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman addressed the long delay in justice for the victim’s family. “The victim’s family has waited for an agonizing 30 years to get that call to let them know their loved one’s killer had been found and charged,” Hochman said in a statement. “While this was classified as a cold case, investigators and prosecutors never stopped in their relentless pursuit of justice.”
Investigative Outlook
The resolution of this case underscores the critical role of forensic advancements in clearing the backlog of cold cases across the United States. As law enforcement agencies increasingly rely on sophisticated DNA profiling to revisit unsolved violent crimes, the likelihood of identifying perpetrators in decades-old investigations continues to rise. If convicted, Walton faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty, with prosecutors set to decide on seeking capital punishment at a later date. It is important to note that all individuals, including Brian Walton, are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
