Monterey County 1991 cold case killings end with Fresno man convicted
A Monterey County jury convicted a man accused of killing a Prunedale restaurant owner and his mother-in-law in 1991, the Monterey County Sheriff's office said on Wednesday.
The man was identified as 86-year-old Ira Ulyesses Bastian, a former employee, and he was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of George Smith and Eva Thompson, according to the Sheriff's Office.
Prunedale 1991 cold case killings
On Nov. 11, 1991, Smith's wife found him and her own mother dead inside their Prunedale restaurant. The Sheriff's Office said Smith had been stabbed multiple times, and Thompson was found dead on her bed after having been attacked.
The Sheriff's Office said the Smiths lived in the same area as the restaurant.
Investigators found a knife at the scene and suspected it was the one used in the killings. They also identified Bastian, 52 at the time, as having been an employee of the restaurant and suspected him in the killings.
The Sheriff's Office said he denied being at the restaurant and said he had not been there in over a year. However, Bastian's girlfriend at the time gave investigators a pair of shoes that belonged to him, and they were able to find shoe impressions in the backyard, near where they suspected he entered the building, the Sheriff's Office said.
Ultimately, after their initial investigation, no charges were filed.
Advances in DNA testing
Decades after the killings, investigators resubmitted evidence for DNA testing and found success in 2024 and 2025.
"Due to advances in DNA testing, results in both 2024 and 2025, provided details that supported Bastian was the contributor to DNA found on the interior of the shoes that had been provided along with the knife handle and clothing worn by Eva Thompson," the Sheriff's Office said.
Then, on July 15, 2024, investigators arrested Bastian in Fresno. The district attorney charged him the following day, and he was then convicted by a jury on Tuesday.
He will be sentenced on Sept. 24, 2025. The Sheriff's Office said he faces a prison sentence of life without the possibility of parole.