Multiple arrests have been made in an 18-year-old murder case that previously went cold due to a lack of leads.
On Monday, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department announced that five people had been identified and arrested in connection with the June 13, 2007, killing of Andres Valdes in Mead Valley.
The 51-year-old Valdes was shot multiple times at a home on the 19000 block of Mariposa Avenue in the community located in western Riverside County.
On that night, deputies from the Sheriff’s Department’s station in Perris responded to the home for reports of shots fired during a potential home invasion robbery.
Deputies located Valdes at the scene and he was pronounced dead by paramedics. Additional victims were located at the home, including several who were assaulted and suffered minor injuries.
Witnesses told investigators that several masked men entered the property to commit a robbery. Valdes fought with the assailants, which led to at least one person fatally shooting him.
The Riverside County Sheriff’s Office Central Homicide Unit took over the investigation, but the case eventually went cold without any arrests due to a lack of leads or evidence.
Earlier this year, a new set of investigators reviewed and decided to reopen the case.
“Over the past several months, multiple suspects were identified as being involved in the murder and robbery,” the Sheriff’s Department said in a news release.
Five people were ultimately arrested, including two who still live a short drive from where Valdes was killed.
The five suspects have been identified as Kenneth Tucker, 37, of Riverside; Deshawn Hill, 36, of Riverside; Dennis Haynes, 37, of Phoenix; Kenneth Haynes, 37, of Phoenix; and Keith Crutchfield, 37, of Killeen, Texas.
Hill was arrested on July 5 in Riverside and was booked into the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside, and Tucker was arrested the following day in Riverside and booked into the Cois Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta.
The other three were arrested between July 14 and July 21 in Arizona and Texas.
All three suspects arrested out of state will be transported to Riverside County to face charges, officials said.
The Sheriff’s Department says all five face potential charges for murder in Andres Valdes’ killing.
This investigation remains ongoing, and anyone with information is urged to contact investigators Darryl Robertson or Andrew Lucifora of the RSD Central Homicide Unit at 951-955-2777.