CA CA- Paul Ornelas, 16, body near railroad tracks, Santa Barbara, 21 June 1975*DNA new initiative*

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Paul Ornelas is seen in an undated photo provided by the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office on April 6, 2021.
April 7 2021
Santa Barbara detectives reopen 1975 homicide case of 16-year-old boy with help of DNA technology | KTLA
''Detectives are reopening the investigation into the decades-old unsolved killing of a teenage boy near Santa Barbara with the help of DNA technology that didn’t exist at the time.

The body of 16-year-old Paul Ornelas was found near railroad tracks in an unincorporated area on June 21, 1975, but an investigation over several years never led to arrests, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office said this week.

“Ornelas’ unsolved murder has left his family with lingering grief,” the office said.''

 

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Detectives turn to rapid DNA technology for clues in 45-year-old cold case
''There’s a new crime-fighting tool being used by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office and for the first time, it’s being used in a cold case.

The ANDE rapid DNA instrument is being used in the cold case homicide of Paul Ornelas.

The 16-year-old Goleta resident was found dead more than four decades ago and his killer was never found. Ornelas's body was discovered near the train tracks below the Turnpike Road overpass on June 21, 1975.
''Detective Matt Maxwell, assigned to the Major Crimes Bureau, is working on the reopened case.''

 

[CastlesBurning]

Prying the Lid Off 45-Year-Old Cold Case - The Santa Barbara Independent

 

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Prying the Lid Off 45-Year-Old Cold Case - The Santa Barbara Independent

Long article with good information, thanks CastlesBurning!
From link.. rbbm.
"The last words Paul Ornelas would say to his brother John were, “I’ll be back.”

As it happened, he never was.

The body of Paul Anthony Ornelas was found early the next morning along the railroad tracks near San Marcos High School. The back of his skull had been bashed in. Blunt force trauma with a blunt object. The wound was so deep, it took three inches of cotton to fill it.


Paul Ornelas was 15 years old at the time of his murder. His brother John was just 14. All this happened a long time ago — June 21, 1975, to be exact. The night before was a Friday. John and Paul had been at party on Wentworth Avenue on the city’s lower Westside. John Ornelas remembers begging his brother not to go.


“I had a bad feeling,” he recalled. “That was the last I saw of him.”

When Paul Ornelas left a party on the Westside 45 years ago, his brother John had a bad feeling. Paul would be found early the next morning with his head bashed in. Detectives with the Major Crimes Unit of the Sheriff’s Office just reopened what until now was a very cold case. | Credit: Courtesy Photo
''The questions don’t go away. “How could someone do something so cold and cowardly and still live with themselves?” he asked. “Why would they take the life of such a young man — were they vindictive? Or jealous?”

''Maybe new avenues of inquiry will emerge. Definitely there has been new technology, particularly a new rapid DNA testing machine. The ANDE, made by a company out of Colorado, is a big metal box that hums like a loud air compressor when in use. Designed for wartime use, it can be dropped out of airplanes and survive intact. Its purpose is to identify bodies that have been blown up or burned beyond recognition.''

''The new technology allows investigators to make DNA matches using much smaller DNA strands. No longer are DNA mother lodes like blood, semen, or saliva required. Workable strands can now be obtained from a simple touch on a steering wheel. And it’s much faster. Matches that used to take weeks now can be obtained in a matter of a few hours.''

 

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2021