POMONA (CNS) - A 61-year-old man allegedly linked by DNA evidence to a man's stabbing death at an El Monte motel more than four decades ago pleaded not guilty today to a murder charge.
Anthony Davis was charged Feb. 18 with the Jan. 7, 1978, slaying of Rudolfo Chavez.
The 42-year-old victim was stabbed more than 40 times at the Spic and Span motel and was found dead the next day by a motel employee. Cold case investigators used DNA evidence found in a motel room to link Davis to the crime, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
“For more than 40 years, justice has eluded the victim's family for this brutal murder,'' District Attorney George Gascon said in a statement in February when the charges were announced. “I commend the unwavering resolve and the tenacious work put in by sheriff's detectives and attorneys in the Cold Case Unit to bring relief to those who have had to endure this tragedy.''
Davis has remained behind bars in lieu of $2 million bail since his Feb. 17 arrest, jail records show.
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