Gardena Man Arrested, Charged In 1994 Murder Of Desert Hot Springs Mother Cheri Huss

RIVERSIDE (CBSLA) —  A Gardena man has been arrested and charged in the 1994 murder of a Desert Hot Springs mother of three.

Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin says DNA helped solved the murder of Cheri Huss nearly 28 years ago. Huss was been found stabbed to death and bitten by her killer inside her Desert Hot Springs apartment.

Sharron Eugene Gadlin, 48, was pulled over at 135th and Western Avenue in Gardena and arrested on Friday. He is being held in Riverside's Southwest Detention Center on $1 million bail.

"I hope Cheri and her family will finally get the justice they deserve and have waited so long for," Hestrin said in a statement.

According to the District Attorney's Office, Huss was found stabbed multiple times and was bitten by her killer. Homicide investigators determined she fought off her attacker, and blood left at the scene was determined to be male and matched the DNA of the saliva in Huss' bite wounds.

The case was cold for nearly 28 years, until forensic genetic genealogy identified Gadlin as a person of interest last month, district attorney's officials said. Further investigation determined Gadlin lived in Thousand Palms in 1994, about 12 miles from where Huss was found murdered.

Cold case investigators got a warrant to get a saliva sample from Gadlin on Feb. 14. The state Department of Justice lab determined the sample from Gadlin matched the DNA profile of the man who killed and bit Huss, prosecutors said.

Gadlin has been charged with Huss' murder and is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday.