It was about six years ago when detectives called Christine McFadden to say they were taking another crack at the murder of her friend and co-worker for whom she felt hopeful justice would be done.
“All these years, I never thought they would ever come to a conclusion,” McFadden said, referring to the murder of 35-year-old Carla Leigh Salazar, a transgender woman stabbed to death in her Santa Ana apartment at 1609 N. Bush St. on June 28, 1989. “But when I got that call from Detective Martinez, I had hope again.”
Orange County authorities on Thursday hailed the arrest of Douglas Gregory Gutridge, 63, of Lodi, as the first case solved by a new task force dedicated to long-stalled murder investigations.
Gutridge, held on a murder charge in lieu of $1 million bail, made his first court appearance a week ago today. His arraignment was put off until Jan. 2. If convicted, he faces up to 25 years to life in prison.
Gutridge and Salazar were acquaintances, according to Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna. Advances in technology helped investigators match his DNA to the victim’s body, he said.
McFadden did not know Gutridge but said “he would pick (Salazar) up in front of the house.” Santa Ana Police Chief Carlos Rojas declined to go into detail about a motive.
“We believe there was a relationship there,” Rojas said, without elaborating.
An apartment manager, also a friend, found Salazar’s body and called police.
The case went cold until 2008 when detectives came up with new evidence. In March 2009, detectives learned DNA evidence put Gutridge at the murder scene, Rojas said.
Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens made it plain: Gutridge’s DNA was on Salazar’s body.
Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said that didn’t prove who the killer was, and detectives needed to keep digging.
Gutridge, who contacted police shortly after the killing and said he might be able to help, was questioned three times and gave investigators “inconsistent” statements, Rojas said.
After his most recent interview on Dec. 9, Gutridge was arrested.
McFadden recalled the day her friend was killed.
“That day we were supposed to go to lunch and then shopping,” McFadden said. “I’d been calling her all morning and finally I got in the car and went over there.”
Crime scene tape surrounded Salazar’s apartment, and police would not let McFadden in. She and Salazar worked as telephone company operators at the time, she said, adding that they were so close she liked to think of Salazar as her sister.
“In every sense of the word she was my sister,” McFadden said.
Salazar “loved to laugh,” and “she loved to shop,” McFadden said, smiling at the memory.
“She was compassionate, very caring and very generous to a fault,” McFadden said.
The Orange County Homicide Task Force has about 30 dedicated investigators, including 16 from the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, Rackauckas said. The task force members are from law enforcement in Anaheim, Fullerton, Huntington Beach, Santa Ana and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.
Hutchens, whose department oversees the Orange County Crime Lab, said the task force is another example of what a collaborative effort can achieve. Matching the defendant’s DNA on the victim’s body was “a significant break” that led to an arrest, Hutchens said.
—City News Service