On The Case With Paula Zahn is investigating the murder of single mom Ashley Yamauchi, who was killed in 2008 in San Rafael, California. Her killer has not been identified, and her death remains a mystery.
On December 16, 2008, the body of 33-year-old Yamauchi was found in a parking lot behind a bar in the downtown area of San Rafael. She had been raped and strangled.
The victim was wedged between a car and a fence. She was naked from the waist down and covered from head to toe in cuts and bruises. The police believe she gave her attacker a helluva fight before she died.
Yamauchi was last seen alive at about 11:30 pm when she left the bar with an unidentified man. She was very popular and had a wide and varied group of friends, which led some to believe she’d been murdered by someone close to her.
Yamauchi had been planning to move to New York for school, and the police wondered if someone had been determined to stop her from going.
Police say they’re working hard on Ashley Yamauchi
The cops interviewed over 50 patrons and witnesses who were in or near the bar on the night of the murder, and they also studied the transcripts from numerous text messages. In 2021, the investigators said they were looking at three persons of interest, but unfortunately, they still didn’t have enough evidence to make an arrest.
Lt. Raffaello Pata of the San Rafael Police told media: “This investigation is a marathon; it’s not a sprint. We’re not sitting around.”
Watch the Latest on our YouTube ChannelThe cops also took DNA evidence from the scene, but either the samples were not large enough, or they simply failed to find a match.
A reward of $50,000 was approved by the Governor for any information that would lead to an arrest of Yamauchi’s killer.
More from On The Case With Paula Zahn
Follow the links to read about more murders investigated by Paula Zahn.
Nikki Anderson and her young daughter, Adrienne, were brutally murdered in their home in Bremerton, WA., in 1986. The officers initially suspected Nikki’s ex-partner, but he was eventually eliminated from the investigation, and the crime remains a mystery.
Charles Webber and Robert Meyer preyed on girls and women throughout the 1970s in Columbus, Ohio. Still, it took nearly half a century before the cops were able to pin the murder of Lori Nesson on these two thugs.
On The Case With Paula Zahn airs Sundays at 10/9c on Investigation Discovery.