An Antioch man has been convicted of murdering a 14-year-old girl in 1980, Contra Costa County District Attorney Diana Becton announced Thursday.
Mitchell Lynn Bacom, 67, was convicted of first-degree murder with special circumstances on Tuesday, prosecutors said.
Bacom, who was 27 years old at the time of the murder, was an early suspect in the initial investigation, but the case went cold until 2017 when he was identified as the perpetrator through his DNA profile, prosecutors said.
Suzanne Bombardier was babysitting her younger cousins when she disappeared from her sister’s apartment on June 2, 1980, and her body was recovered a week later from the San Joaquin River.
Prosecutors said there was evidence of sexual assault, and Bombardier’s cause of death was determined to be a single stab wound to the chest.
Bacom, who had previously been convicted in 1974 of rape and other felony offenses in Mountain View, was on parole at the time of the murder.
He was convicted of sexually assault and related felonies in 1981 and was sentenced to 24 years in state prison.
He will be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, prosecutor said.
I cannot imagine being so bent as to do harm to someone that way. If there was ever a case for the death penalty, this is one of them.
+1
..agree .. but King Newsom overturned voters wishes and outlawed the death penalty …another example of him not following voters rights
I hope the same thing happens to him in prison.
If convicted hang em high! Too many laws not enough justice
Just jab his evil neck without warning before he ever even enters his cell. DONE!
Gee, wonder which governor granted his parole??????????
Rhetorical
Do governors make parole decisions?
This would have been Jerry Brown in his first stint.
+1
Yep. at least is CA…. Gov’s approve or deny….
Book ’em Danno … !!!
Add this to the “Catch and Release is Bad Policy” files.
That S.O.B. who arranged Jussie Smollett’s attack is on the loose again and still trying to start another race riot.
Diana Becton deserves no credit for this successful prosecution. Her opponent in the upcoming DA election, Mary Knox, was the trial lawyer. Becton has never personally prosecuted a jury trial in her life…never; not a single one. She purposely left out the name of the actual prosecutor in the press release. Shame on her.