After almost three decades of questions and searches, the four daughters of Juana Rosas-Zagal have come one step closer to justice.
On Monday, the Riverside Country Regional Homicide Trial Team announced it has identified the body of a homicide victim found 27 years ago along the side of the 60 Freeway in Riverside County as Rosas-Zagal.
Rosas-Zagal, who was from the Los Angeles area, would have been 41 years old at the time of his death. His body was found next to piles of garbage on January 27, 1996, east of Gilman Springs Road between Moreno Valley and Beaumont, about 70 miles east of Los Angeles.
Forensic investigative genetic genealogy, a tool that helps identify missing or unidentified persons through DNA data and family connections, led the team to not only identify Rosas-Zagal, but also track down her four daughters. The practice uses genetic information from direct-to-consumer companies to help identify suspects and victims in cold cases.
“He destroyed my family. He didn’t kill a single person. He killed us all,” Rosas-Zagal’s second daughter, Santana, said in a YouTube video posted by the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office Monday morning.
Authorities have not identified a suspect in the murder. Santana and the RCCHT ask that anyone who has met Juana or has any information about the case call detectives at (951) 955-0740 or (951) 955-2777.
This story first appeared on Telemundo 52’s sister station, NBCLA. Click here to read this story in English.
