It’s a mystery which left a family in agony. But, finally, four decades later, there’s some closure.
On November 15, 1983, San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s deputies found a van parked at a turnout off of Highway 1 near Hearst Castle. Inside was the body of a woman who had been shot to death.
"This has been 43 years. I never thought I would ever have an end to the story. I had kind of given up," said Priscilla Tate, who is the sister of the victim, Toby Tate.
At the time, detectives reached a dead end in their investigation. It became a cold case.
"This was a total 'whodunit' in 1983, and it continued to be a 'whodunit' up until five or six months ago," said San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Detective Clint Cole.
Toby Tate was an adventurous woman who loved nature and loved to travel.
"She was kind of a rebel. She was adventuresome," said Priscilla Tate. She said in 1983, they were living together in Colorado. Toby owned a van, which she took on a solo trip to California.
"We lived in Estes Park (Colorado), and we had two fraternal twin aunts who lived in Fairfield, California," said Tate. "One died, and Toby realized that Auntie Irene had never had to celebrate her birthday alone. So, Toby drove out to California to celebrate. She was driving down through San Luis Obispo County to LA to see a friend, and that's when it (the murder) happened."
Deputies discovered the body of the 41-year-old woman in the van. Detectives thought it was probably linked to a robbery, because some of Tate’s items were later found at pawn shops. But, investigators weren’t able to come up with a suspect, or suspects. It ended up in the Sheriff’s Office cold case files. Detectives would periodically reexamine the evidence.
"Every year I called the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office," said Tate. "I remember the first time, I didn't even know what to say...my sister was murdered...but they were incredibly kind to me. "
San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Detective Clint Cole never forgot about the case. He recently reopened it using the latest DNA technology. Blood evidence recovered at the scene was retested using advanced genealogy analysis. It led him to a man named Steven Richard Hardy.
Then, new technology used to test a fingerprint from a soda can found at the scene led him to a second man: Charlie Sneed.
"We had no idea who these guys were until the fingerprints on Sneed, and the DNA on Hardy," said Cole. The Sheriff's Office worked with Parabon Nanolabs and Othram Labs on the case, which specialize in advanced forensic science.
Both men were from Texas at the time. They’re both dead.
Cole concluded the two men were responsible for the robbery and murder, and that no one else was involved.
The San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s office reviewed the evidence, finding there was enough evidence to try to the men if they were alive. So, nearly 43 years after the crimes occurred, the case has been closed, with the term that it's been "exceptionally cleared."
"Toby Tate's sister Priscilla is here, to be able to meet her in person, it made all of the frustrating days (working on the case) worthwhile," said the detective.
Cole used some of the new scientific technology to help solve the infamous Kristen Smart cold case murder from 1996, leading to the conviction of her Cal Poly San Luis Obispo classmate, Paul Flores.
He’s also using it to try to come up with new leads in the cold case 1980 double murder of two little girls in Santa Margarita.
Tate admits she never thought she’d never see closure in the murder of her sister, Toby. She said she misses her every day, and while this won’t bring her back, it brings some peace to the family.
"I know I've lived with a ghost for 43 years," said Tate. "Now there's an end, and she can rest in peace."
