FREMONT, Calif. (TCN) — A 63-year-old man faces 50 years to life in prison for killing two best friends almost four decades ago and leaving their naked bodies in a remote area.
The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office announced Dec. 20 that a jury found David Misch guilty on two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of Jennifer Duey and Michelle Xavier. Misch is set to be sentenced on Jan. 21, 2025.
According to the Fremont Police Department, on Feb. 2, 1986, at approximately 12:30 a.m., a motorcyclist driving on Mill Creek Road found the bodies of 18-year-old Xavier and 20-year-old Duey and called law enforcement. The victims had been shot and stabbed hours before the discovery.
Police said Xavier and Duey went to a birthday dinner for a relative earlier that evening and were last seen at approximately 8 p.m. at a convenience store. Xavier’s vehicle was reportedly found about 6 miles from the crime scene in a shopping center parking lot, but the victims’ other personal belongings weren’t located. Investigators identified several people of interest at the time, but detectives later ruled most of them out, and the case went cold.
In 2016, police created a position in the Crimes Against Persons Unit to help solve cold cases. According to prosecutors, officials found DNA under Duey’s nails in 2001 and confirmed it belonged to Misch. In 2003, while serving a life sentence for killing someone in 1989, Misch reportedly called police and said he had seen the “two young women being kidnapped at gunpoint and tried to save them.” The district attorney’s office said this was Misch’s “explanation for the presence of his DNA in this case.”
In a statement, Chief Assistant District Attorney Royl Roberts said, “Mr. Misch was charged by this office 32 years after murdering Jennifer Duey and Michelle Xavier. He was found guilty by a jury four years later. This conviction is a testament to this office’s commitment to seeking justice for victims and their families, even if it takes decades. I only wish we could have delivered justice sooner for these two families.”
According to KTVU-TV, in a separate case, Misch allegedly kidnapped and killed 9-year-old Michaela Garecht from a grocery store parking lot in 1989 and is awaiting trial.
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