Convicted killer David Emery Misch sentenced in 1986 murders of 2 Fremont women
A convicted killer who has also been charged in the 1988 disappearance of Michaela Garecht was sentenced Tuesday in connection with the murders of two Fremont women nearly four decades ago, authorities said.
According to the Fremont Police Department, David Emery Misch received two consecutive 25-year-to-life sentences in the murders of Michelle Xavier and Jennifer Duey. A jury convicted Misch of the murders on Dec. 19, 2024.
"Over the last 39 years, several Fremont Police Officers and Detectives have invested numerous hours in this case. In collaboration with the Alameda County DA's office, this case has come to a successful conclusion with Misch's conviction," police said in a statement Wednesday.
Sergeant Jacob Blass started with the Fremont Police Department 19 years ago. In 2015, he became the cold case specialist and started piecing together the evidence to find the man who murdered 18-year-old Michelle Xavier and 20-year-old Jennifer Duey.
"For this family, I would 100% do anything. They're like family to me," said Sgt. Blass.
For nine years, Sgt. Blass took all the evidence from the initial investigation, including a partial license plate number written on the hand of one of the victims. To uncovering a new key piece of DNA evidence under the victim's fingernails, thanks to improved technology.
Even when leads went cold, Sgt. Blass never gave up.
"You have to have that tenacity because you know you're working for the family, you're working for the community," said Sgt. Blass. "Everybody here deserves answers on what happened at that time."
Best Friends Killed
According to officers, Xavier and Duey were found shot and stabbed along the side of Mill Creek Road in the hills above Mission Boulevard shortly after midnight on Feb. 2, 1986. Xavier was 18 and Duey was 20 when they were killed.
Earlier in the evening, the best friends were attending a birthday dinner for a family member and were last seen together around 10:15 p.m. at a convenience store near Farwell Drive and Mowry Avenue, police said.
Despite numerous tips following their murders and thousands of leads, the case went cold. Police reopened the case in 2016 and with the help of DNA testing, Misch was identified as the main suspect.
Misch, who was already serving 18 years to life for the 1989 killing of Margaret Ball in unincorporated Hayward, was charged with the murders of Xavier and Duey in 2018.
Disruptions At Sentencing
At Tuesday's sentencing hearing, the 63-year-old was removed from the courtroom after disrupting the proceedings and singing while the victims' impact statements were being read, according to the Alameda County District Attorney's Office.
"David Misch's behavior in court was not only reprehensible but a blatant display of no remorse for taking the lives of Jennifer Duey and Michelle Xavier," Chief Assistant District Attorney Royl Roberts said Wednesday. "The families of these two young women have been waiting nearly 40 years to receive justice for their tragic and senseless murders. Thanks to the jury and this conviction, Mr. Misch will be held accountable."
Awaiting Trial In Garecht Case
Misch remains in custody at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin as he awaits trial for the kidnapping and murder of Michaela Garecht, who was nine years old when she vanished from a street corner in Hayward more than 36 years ago.
One of the Bay Area's most high-profile missing children's cases, Garecht and a friend rode their scooters to the Rainbow Market located in her neighborhood on the morning of Nov. 19, 1988 to buy some candy and sodas. After they came out of the store, investigators said Garecht noticed that her friend's scooter had been moved in the parking lot.
When she went to retrieve it, an unidentified Caucasian male who appeared to be 18-to-24 years old, grabbed her and forced her into his older model American-made sedan and sped away from the scene.
Garecht's friend went inside the market calling for help. By the time, the store clerk rushed out of the store, both Garecht and her abductor had vanished.
Over the decades that have followed several notorious serial killers including Curtis Dean Anderson, who was convicted of the kidnap-slaying Xiana Fairchild, and the infamous Speed Freak serial killers, Wesley Shermantine and Loren Herzog, had been investigated as possible suspects.
A break in the case came from investigators in the Fremont murders and a partial palm print in the Garecht case. Misch was charged in Garecht's kidnapping and murder in 2020.