It’s news that Arshneel Kaur had hope to hear for more than a decade. But it still left her stunned. Investigators had solved the 2014 cold case murder of her father in an Oxnard park.
"I am still in a state of shock. I am incredibly surprised that there's been some step taken towards resolution," said Kaur. "The call caught me off guard, but I'm very grateful for the work the Oxnard Police Department has done, and that every person who has been involved in the process has done."
It was a crime that happened without a known motive in broad daylight, in a popular Oxnard park. Labh Nigah was a husband, the father of two young girls and a boy, and an immigrant who worked long hours at a convenience store in an effort to try to build a better life for his family.
"On Thursday, November 13th, 2014, Oxnard Police Department officers responded to a call of a battery victim in Sierra Linda Park. The responding officers located an unresponsive adult male and saw that he had multiple stab wounds," said Oxnard Police Chief Jason Benites. He said even veteran officers were shaken by the brutal crime. "Emergency medical personnel pronounced the victim deceased at 8:55 that morning."
"It was later discovered that Labh had just finished walking his son to Sierra Linda Elementary School that morning. The school is adjacent to the park," said the police chief. "As Labh was walking through the park, he was suddenly accosted and stabbed to death. This occurred in broad daylight, in a public park, next to an elementary school that was in session. Witnesses to Labh's murder included people in the park, teachers, and school staff. Worse yet, students who were in the school yard also witnessed this."
Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko said investigators couldn’t come up with an answer to the big question in the case: Why did it happen?
"There is no evidence that the victim knew the defendant, or that the defendant knew the victim. This was a random, unprovoked, and brutal murder."
Detectives talked to a number of witnesses and collected DNA evidence. But it didn’t match anyone in criminal DNA databases at the time.
It became a cold case. But Oxnard Police detectives didn’t give up. Over the years, there were four lead investigators in the case.
Then, advances in DNA helped. The amounts of DNA we had were very low. We had to combine samples together because the DNA was such a low quantity," said Kristen Canko, who is a Forensic Scientist with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office. She said the technology they had in 2014 wasn't capable of testing such a low quantity of DNA evidence. "Advances in technology, new amplification kits that are more sensitive, allowed me to work with a smaller amount of DNA.
The new DNA evidence led to relatives of an Oxnard man. Last Thursday, detectives arrested Jose Jimemez for the 2014 murder. He only lived a few blocks from the murder scene. Jimenez is facing a first-degree murder charge and two other counts related to the killing. Jimenez appeared in court on Monday, but hasn’t entered pleas to the charges yet.
Authorities didn't release details about his background, including whether he had a past criminal history.
Nigah's daughter, Arsheel, said detectives told her they’d never give up on the case, and they worked hard to give the family hope that they’d have closure.
"They never made us believe that this case wouldn't be resolved. We were lucky enough to work with great detectives who kept the momentum going and kept us hopeful.
