DNA leads to arrest of Las Vegas man for 1980 California homicide
A Las Vegas man has been arrested in the slaying of a California woman nearly 40 years ago, police said.
The Fontana Police Department in San Bernardino County, California, said it arrested Leonard Nash, 66, of Las Vegas on a warrant charging him with murder in the July 5, 1980, slaying of Michelle “Missy” Jones. The young woman was found slain in a grapefruit grove in Fontana.
Police said forensic evidence was collected during Jones’ autopsy, but technology at the time did not allow it to be connected to an offender.
“Detectives exhausted all investigative leads in 1980 and the case went cold,” Fontana police said in a statement.
DNA profile
Four decades later, in 2020, police sent the forensic evidence to the Riverside/San Bernardino CAL-DNA Laboratory. DNA was located and a profile was obtained. The profile was entered into a DNA database of offenders, but no match was found.
“Investigators conducted follow-up interviews with victim Michelle Jones’ family members which (led) to Leonard Nash as a person of interest in the investigation,” police said.
Police said Nash was found in June 2020 in Las Vegas and investigators “collected his discarded DNA.”
“The results of (a) comparison revealed the DNA collected from victim Jones at her autopsy were a match to Leonard Nash’s DNA,” police said.
A warrant was obtained for Nash’s arrest. He was arrested Sept. 8 in Las Vegas. He is awaiting extradition to California.
Nash was housed Tuesday morning at the Clark County Detention Center on a fugitive warrant from another state.
Contact Glenn Puit by email at gpuit@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GlennatRJon Twitter.