Officials have identified a suspect from a 1991 San Jose murder as the man killed in a 2008 shootout with the FBI in Ohio.
The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office Cold Case Unit was able to identify Gerardo Aguilar, also known as Gerardo Mulato, as the individual responsible for the gang murder of a 14-year-old.
Aguilar was ultimately killed in a shootout with the FBI in Ohio after being investigated for drug trafficking.
“It’s never too late to identify a killer,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said. “People may forget. But victims’ families and my Office do not.”
Aguilar, 15 at the time, allegedly shot and killed 14-year-old Raymond Ojeda on September 28, 1991, after a gang argument in the Foxdale Loop section of San Jose.
“A juvenile arrest warrant was issued for Aguilar, but local authorities were not able to locate him. The suspect disappeared,” the district attorney's office said at the time.
Following the murder, authorities issued an arrest for Aquilar but were unable to locate him.
However, officials had a breakthrough earlier this year when they began to suspect Mulato and Aquilar were the same person.
John Cary, the lead investigator for this case, said he was following a hunch in checking on the Ohio case to see if it connects to the San Jose murder.
After doing a background check on Mulato, investigators identified his sister living in Mexico as having the last name Mulato.
Further search showed a physical resemblance between the teenager responsible for the San Jose murder and the person who died in the shootout in Ohio. Using DNA analysis, they confirmed that they were the same person.
“DNA analysis confirmed they were the same person. Aguilar had been living in Ohio under the (last) name Mulato for several years,” the DA’s office wrote.
Aquilar moved to Forest Park, Ohio at some point after the murder and began using the name Mulato.
However, trouble continued to follow him. In 2004, he was arrested in connection with an assault with a baseball bat in Springfield.
While investigating him for drug trafficking, the FBI placed a tracking device on Mulato's car. After discovering the FBI agents and the tracking device, Mulato believed he was being followed by car thieves and began to engage in the gunfight that ultimately led to his death.
According to Rosen, the Cold Case Unit has had a lot of success in recent years and has solved 20 homicides and 15 sexual assaults since 2018.