Old murder may be solved
by DNA databank 'cold hit'

SACRAMENTO (5/1/03) -- A long unsolved murder may have been cracked by a "cold hit" on the state Department of Justice's DNA database, the Sacramento District Attorney announced Thursday.

Twenty-nine-year-old Eva Chu disappeared April 17, 1979. Her abandoned car was located two days later. Then, on April 21, Chu's body was found in a wooded lot near Watt Avenue and Longview Drive.

Medical examiners determined Chu had been sexually assaulted and strangled, and that she was seven months pregnant with a viable fetus.Witnesses reported seeing Chu kidnapped from downtown parking garage.

The case remained open until August of 2002 when the Sacramento DA's crime lab was asked to perform DNA tests on evidence from the Chu case, according to Special Assistant Deputy District Attorney Lana Wyant.

A DNA profile obtained from forensic samples was submitted to the DOJ convicted felon databank in October, 2002 and a month later a confirmed "match," or "cold hit," came back, Wyant said.

The "match" was Joseph Aguayo, no age given, currently serving a 60-to-life prison term at the High Desert State Prison in Susanville, Wyant said.

An arrest warrant and criminal complaint charging Aguayo with kidnap, robbery, rape and murder under the special circumstances of multiple homicide are being prepared, Wyant said.

Aguayo is expected to be returned to Sacramento for arraignment in Sacramento County Superior Court sometime within the fortnight, Wyant said.