Investigators thought they knew who committed a brutal double murder in Monterey County 32 years ago, but they didn't have enough evidence to make an arrest.
That was until Monday, when Monterey County sheriff's officials arrested an 85-year-old man for the 1991 murders of George Smith and Eva Thompson. New DNA evidence appeared to play a role in the arrest.
Monterey County District Attorney Jeannine M. Pacioni announced Tuesday morning that Fresno resident Ira Ulyesses Bastian had been charged with two counts of first-degree murder. The charges carry special circumstance allegations that Bastian killed the two victims during a robbery.
Bastian pleaded not guilty to both charges in a Salinas courtroom Tuesday, according to Deputy District Attorney Matthew L'Heureux.
Fresno resident Ira Ulyesses Bastian, seen in a mugshot, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder.
(Monterey County Sheriff's Department)
It is unclear whether Bastian was represented by a county public defender. Attempts to reach him were unsuccessful. He is due back in court July 26 for a preliminary hearing.
However, his arrest was hailed as a long-awaited victory by the district attorney's office.
“It’s always very difficult to accept this kind of violence,” L’Heureux said in an interview with The Times. “It’s also extremely rewarding, with the help of others, to focus on who hurt someone and do something about it.”
At the time of the murders, Smith, then 67, and his wife Anna ran a popular restaurant, Smith's Restaurant, in the unincorporated town of Prunedale, about eight miles north of Salinas on Highway 101.
The couple lived in a property on the grounds of the now-closed restaurant with Anna Smith's mother, Eva Thompson, then 79.
Anna Smith returned from running errands on the evening of Nov. 11, 1991, to find her mother and husband “brutally stabbed to death,” according to the district attorney’s office.
George Smith was doing bookkeeping at a desk when he was murdered. According to a local television reportThompson, who was bedridden, was also stabbed to death.
According to L'Heureux, both victims had defensive injuries, meaning they tried to defend themselves from their attacker.
Bastian, then 52, was a former employee of Smith's restaurant, having previously worked there about a year and a half earlier, according to L'Heureux.
Neighbors speculated that the Smiths had buried gold bars on their property that could have been what Bastian was looking for, L'Heureux said.
“There were rumors that came out of this case and I don't know for sure if they were true or not. [bury gold]“What I can say is that the stabbings occurred during the robbery,” he said.
Bastian had been considered a suspect for years, but was never arrested.
“It was not until the recent investigation that all those involved felt confident enough to prove their guilt beyond a reasonable doubt,” L'Heureux said.
He did not confirm whether the murder weapon had been recovered or what ultimately led to Bastian's arrest.
Pacioni noted that the Monterey County Sheriff's Office followed the case for decades and submitted DNA evidence for analysis. He added that this year, “an additional round of DNA testing yielded sufficient evidence to support the arrest and filing of criminal charges.”
Citizens Against Homicide, a nonprofit anti-crime organization based in San Rafael, offered a $50,000 reward at the time.
“When you look at these types of cold cases, there are really only two factors that lead to arrests,” said Jan Miller, co-founder of the group. “Either deathbed confessions or DNA.”
Bastian had been living independently in Fresno with the help of a caregiver when he was arrested Monday.
“I am aware that there have been researchers working on this for decades and I am relatively new to this,” L’Heureux said. “However, we cannot forget that these were good people living their everyday lives and they did not deserve this.”
