Still Missing CA - Michaela Garecht, 9, Hayward, 19 Nov 1988 *ARREST*

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JMapes said:
Such bittersweet news. Michaela's mother has kept an active blog for many years, hoping one day Michaela would see it and find her way back home. I can't imagine the heartbreak in learning of this development, especially this time of the year, which is so close to when Michaela went missing and the upcoming holidays.

I can't help but feel that her mother must now mourn the loss of her daughter all over again, except this time there is no hope that she'll ever find her way back home.

_____
From the live presser in the link above (which should be available to replay after its done airing):

The man charged with her murder has also been charged with special circumstances because A. the murder happened during the course of a kidnapping and B. he has been convicted of previous murders (18-year-old Michelle Xavier, and 20-year-old Jennifer Duey, which occurred in 1986).

He has two prior felonies- assault with deadly weapon and one burglary, which happened just 3 months before Michaela's kidnapping.

___
https://www.acgov.org/sheriff_app/

View attachment 276426

He's been held at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, CA since 2018 for the murders of MX and JD. Dublin is just the next town over from where all of these tragic murders took place.

Local police are saying they cannot rule him out for other similar murders in the area around the same time.

He has an arraignment tomorrow (12/22/2020) at 9am.

____

Rest in peace, Michaela, justice is finally on its way. May you wrap your wings around your mom extra tight tonight.
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Definitely bittersweet. But I’m hoping with some answers will come a little bit of peace. And I’m hoping for resolution for the other girls who were taken in that timeframe as well.
 
In this article the detective reveals the evidence which lead to Misch's arrest. The partial palm print on Michaela's scooter proved to be a match for Misch.

After 32 years of questions, arrest made in murder of Michaela Garecht

Chaplin said the case was reinvigorated earlier this year by a tip from Fremont police, who were investigating Misch for a double homicide. Despite the fact that case was not a child abduction, they thought he might still be a good suspect. Hayward investigators followed up, eventually comparing a partial palm print they found on Michaela's abandoned scooter. Because of the quality of the print, Chaplin said it needed to be "manually compared" and couldn't be matched digitally. The print was a match for Misch, police said.

From her home in Iowa, where she is undergoing treatment for breast cancer, Michaela's mother Sharon Murch issued a statement.

"Over the years, I often wondered whether I really wanted to know the truth of what happened to Michaela," she wrote. "I wondered if I would be able to take it. When I received news of the kidnapper having been identified, I asked the hard questions of Detective Purnell, of what method this man used to kill his victims, and received answers, and they were not easy.

"When I had doubted whether I would want to know, it always came back to, if Michaela could experience it, I could hear it. Because it’s not about me. It’s never been about me, about my feelings. It is and always has been about Michaela. What I have been through is nothing. What I feel is not important. It is only about Michaela."
 
Murkywaters said:
In this article the detective reveals the evidence which lead to Misch's arrest. The partial palm print on Michaela's scooter proved to be a match for Misch.

After 32 years of questions, arrest made in murder of Michaela Garecht

Chaplin said the case was reinvigorated earlier this year by a tip from Fremont police, who were investigating Misch for a double homicide. Despite the fact that case was not a child abduction, they thought he might still be a good suspect. Hayward investigators followed up, eventually comparing a partial palm print they found on Michaela's abandoned scooter. Because of the quality of the print, Chaplin said it needed to be "manually compared" and couldn't be matched digitally. The print was a match for Misch, police said.

From her home in Iowa, where she is undergoing treatment for breast cancer, Michaela's mother Sharon Murch issued a statement.

"Over the years, I often wondered whether I really wanted to know the truth of what happened to Michaela," she wrote. "I wondered if I would be able to take it. When I received news of the kidnapper having been identified, I asked the hard questions of Detective Purnell, of what method this man used to kill his victims, and received answers, and they were not easy.

"When I had doubted whether I would want to know, it always came back to, if Michaela could experience it, I could hear it. Because it’s not about me. It’s never been about me, about my feelings. It is and always has been about Michaela. What I have been through is nothing. What I feel is not important. It is only about Michaela."
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It’s amazing… After all those years… got him on a palm print.
 
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On Nov. 19, 1988, Michaela Joy Garecht was a 9-year-old girl who wore feather-shaped earrings and jeans rolled over her knees.

No one has seen her since.

On Monday, Northern California authorities announced that they have filed charges against convicted killer David Misch in Michaela’s kidnapping and murder, a cold case that stunned the Bay Area for decades. Police said they were only recently able to match a partial palm print at the scene to Misch.

But Michaela’s body has never been found.

“In the last year, I had to come to a place accepting that Michaela was probably no longer alive,” Michaela’s mother, Sharon Murch, wrote in a statement. “But somehow, that acceptance was far more wrapped up in the idea of Michaela sitting on a fluffy pink cloud walking streets of gold, dancing on grassy hills, soaring among the stars. What I did not envision was my daughter as a dead child.
Man charged in 1988 killing, kidnapping of 9-year-old girl
 
This case hits me hard - some cases just strike a chord. I’ve been crying since I heard the news - tears for Michaela, tears for her mom Sharon. I hope sweet Michaela’s remains can be found. Her poor mom has gone through so much, I cannot begin to imagine - :( heartbreaking - I am still so grateful that a definite connection has been made and justice will be served!!!
 
I am wondering if the investigators are relying on DNA, as one article said, or "just" fingerprint analysis (a palm print)? Prayers for Michaela and her mother, whose blog has been a beautiful, poignant memorial-and who's battling cancer now.
 
1st court appearance for man accused of 1988 murder of 9-year-old Michaela Garecht

HAYWARD, Calif. - The man charged with kidnapping and murdering a 9-year-old girl outside a Hayward grocery in a case that captured the nation's attention is scheduled to make his first court appearance on Tuesday, 32 years after the disappearance of Michaela Garecht.

David Misch, 59, will be arraigned at 9 a.m. It was not immediately clear if he had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.

On Monday, Hayward police and the FBI made the surprising announcement that Misch, already in prison for the murder of at least three other women, is also responsible for Michaela's death.

DA charges man with murder in 1988 kidnapping of Michaela Garecht

His partial palm prints left behind on her scooter, left behind on Nov. 19, 1988, connects him to the case, police and prosecutors said. She vanished that day outside the Rainbow Market in Hayward and her body has never been found.

On that day, Michaela and her best friend rode their scooters to buy a snack days before Thanksgiving. It was their first trip there without teenage neighbors.

Arrest made in murder of Michaela Garecht 32 years later
Henry Lee reports.

They left their scooters outside, and officials allege that Misch moved a scooter to isolate one of the girls. When Michaela went to retrieve it, he forced her into his car and drove away. The palm print that led to Misch’s charges was found on the scooter. It was too small to be scanned through a computer database and had to be analyzed manually.

Misch was already in a prison for the 1989 murder of a woman in the Hayward area. He is also a suspect in a 1986 case where two women were killed in Fremont, another city in the Bay Area.

Fremont police reached out to Hayward detectives about Misch, thinking there might be a link between their cases even though some of the circumstances were different. Authorities would not say what led police to believe the cases were connected.

Hayward detectives are treating Michaela’s disappearance as a murder even though her body was never found.

Rows of filing cabinets, each drawer marked with a photograph of the young girl, have filled the police station for more than 32 years.

The charges have brought little solace to Michaela’s mother.

"I feel as though I am still looking for Michaela, but now I don’t know where," she wrote. "I honestly feel lost in the dark."
 
Michaela Garecht Cold Case: Convicted Killer David Misch Charged With Her Kidnapping, Murder
''Misch has been incarcerated at the state prison medical facility in Stockton for the December 1989 stabbing death of
36-year-old Margaret Ball at her home in unincorporated Hayward. He has also been charged with the 1986 cold case murders of two young Fremont women whose bodies were found alongside Mill Creek Rd.''


David Misch (Hayward Police Department)

“Today is about family, community and healing,” Hayward Police Chief Toney Chaplin said. “We can announce that 59-year-old David Misch has been charged with the murder of Michaela Garecht … The disappearance of Michaela Garecht is a tragic story that has gripped the Bay Area for decades.”
 
dotr said:
Michaela Garecht Cold Case: Convicted Killer David Misch Charged With Her Kidnapping, Murder
''Misch has been incarcerated at the state prison medical facility in Stockton for the December 1989 stabbing death of
36-year-old Margaret Ball at her home in unincorporated Hayward. He has also been charged with the 1986 cold case murders of two young Fremont women whose bodies were found alongside Mill Creek Rd.''


David Misch (Hayward Police Department)

“Today is about family, community and healing,” Hayward Police Chief Toney Chaplin said. “We can announce that 59-year-old David Misch has been charged with the murder of Michaela Garecht … The disappearance of Michaela Garecht is a tragic story that has gripped the Bay Area for decades.”
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Oh wow, I missed that he murdered another woman. Just lashed out at females of all ages. What a nightmare this guy is.
 
faithx said:
David Misch: The System Failed to Protect Michaela Garecht From a Serial Killer in the Making

Great write-up that details David Misch's violent criminal history and reveals that he was on parole when he committed the murders. He is a monster and I hope everything else he has done will come to light.
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Wow. I know someone who was a relatively innocent person in the backseat of a car where the driver sold less than an ounce of marijuana who was held in jail and sentenced longer than this guy. He was given WAY too much leniency in all of his crimes. What a .
I pray that he does the right thing and leads authorities to the recovery of the body. After reading this write-up I have my doubts.
I’ve followed this kidnapping for many years and I wish her mother Sharon peace and strength. I am so sorry this had to happen to her precious daughter.
 
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