Photo credit: Sonoma Sheriff
On July 15, 1996, 32-year-old Michelle Marie Veal’s nude body was found on the side of the road by a survey crew working in the area of Stony Point Road, north of West Railroad Avenue in unincorporated Sonoma County. The autopsy showed Veal had multiple skull fractures and a broken neck, consistent with blunt force head trauma. At the time of the murder, evidence was collected, and Violent Crime detectives conducted an extensive investigation; all leads were exhausted. Despite their best efforts, the investigation went cold.
In April 2021, detectives resubmitted evidence for review to the Serological Research Institute (SERI) for biological testing using today’s current technology.
On Jan. 18, 2022, the Department of Justice notified Violent Crime detectives of a CODIS Hit due to the DNA evidence submitted to the laboratory. SERI laboratory had developed a DNA profile from the evidence that had been submitted. A DNA match came back to that of Jack Alexander Bokin.
Shortly after receiving the information, detectives learned that Bokin died on Dec. 4, 2021, at the California Department of Corrections Medical Facility in Vacaville, CA.
In October 1997, the San Francisco Police Department arrested Bokin for kidnapping, kidnapping with the intent to commit rape, rape of a victim incapable of consent, rape by force/fear, mayhem, aggravated mayhem, two counts of oral copulation of a person under 14 years of age, false imprisonment and attempted murder. Bokin remained in custody; then, in 2000, he was sentenced to serve 231 years for the above-listed charges in a San Francisco courtroom.
Republished courtesy of Sonoma Sheriff.