Case # TBA
15NF3269
Date: December 10, 2015
TWO MEN IN SEPARATE COLD CASES CHARGED FOR MURDERS IN 1998 AND 2007 FOLLOWING INVESTIGATION BY ORANGE COUNTY COLD CASE HOMICIDE TASK FORCE
SANTA ANA, Calif. – Two men in separate cold cases were charged today for murders in a 1998 case and 2007 case following an investigation by the Orange County Cold Case Homicide Task Force (OCHTF).
Circumstances of Case # TBA
Jose Esteban Cardenas Zuniga, 39, Mammoth Lakes, is charged with one felony count of murder. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in state prison. He is being held on $1 million bail and is scheduled to be arraigned Monday, Dec. 14, 2015, at 10:00 a.m. in Department CJ-1, Central Jail, Santa Ana.
On or around Oct. 20, 2007, Zuniga, then 31 years old, is accused of murdering 25-year-old Yacshicka Watts by strangling her and leaving her body outside in a parking area in a business center. The Santa Ana Police Department (SAPD) began investigating this case after receiving a 911 call that her body had been found. Orange County Crime Lab investigators collected DNA evidence from the victim’s body and stored it in the state database. In 2013, a DNA hit matched the defendant after an unrelated arrest in northern California. Zuniga was charged with murder after sufficient evidence was gathered which included additional witness interviews.
Circumstances of Case # 15NF3269
John Andrew Augustin, 52, Fullerton, is charged with one felony count of murder. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in state prison. He is being held on $1 million bail and is scheduled for continued arraignment Jan. 8, 2015, at 10:00 a.m. in Department CJ-1, Central.
At the time of the crime, Augustin, then 34 years old, is accused of being in an on-again off-again romantic relationship with 41-year-old Irene Ruelaz. On or around April 18, 1998, Augustin is accused of entering Ruelaz’s apartment and suffocating her to death. He is accused of leaving her body in the closet and piling her clothes on top of her to conceal her body before fleeing the scene.
The coroner initially determined this death as accidental as a result of the autopsy report which showed a high level of alcohol in the victim’s blood. OCHTF reopened the investigation in this case and connected the defendant to this murder through additional witnesses and physical evidence including DNA.
Formed in 2014, the OCHTF is a law enforcement collaboration aimed at investigating and solving cold case homicides in Orange County. Task force members include APD, Fullerton Police Department, Huntington Beach Police Department, Orange County District Attorney’s Office, Orange County Sheriff’s Department, and Santa Ana Police Department. Through investigative work by OCHTF, five cases have resulted in arrests or warrants.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Larry Yellin of the Homicide Unit is prosecuting both of these cases.