A 40-year-old man suspected in the fatal shooting of a 17-year-old boy in La Quinta in July 2004 has been taken into custody, authorities announced Monday.
Eddie Zazueta was located Friday by sheriff’s deputies, with assistance from the Riverside County District Attorney’s Gang Impact Team, and taken into custody without incident and booked into the Larry Smith Correctional Facility on suspicion of murder, according to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department.
Zazueta is suspected of murdering Daniel Medina of Indio.
At approximately 4:25 a.m. on July 5, 2004, deputies responded to the 52400 block of Avenida Obregon regarding reports of a male victim who was shot in the area, sheriff’s officials said.
They located Medina suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. He was taken to a hospital for treatment, where he later died.
Investigators assigned to the sheriff’s Central Homicide Unit arrived at the location to assume the investigation.
Sheriff’s officials said the investigation led detectives to identify a person of interest, but they lacked sufficient evidence to arrest at the time, and the case eventually went cold.
“As part of the sheriff’s office’s ongoing efforts to review unsolved homicide cases, investigators recently reexamined this case. During the review, several leads and follow-up tasks were identified, and the case was reopened,” the sheriff’s department said in a statement Monday.
Anyone with information regarding the fatal shooting was urged to contact Master Investigator Robertson or Deputy Lucifora at 951-955-2777.