RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A Southern California man has been charged with stabbing to death a woman in Desert Hot Springs nearly three decades ago after DNA from bite marks and blood linked him to the killing, prosecutors announced Tuesday.
Sharron Gadlin, 48, of Glendale, was arrested last Friday and is charged in connection with the April 1994 murder of Cheri Huss. Huss, 39, was stabbed several times in her apartment and also was bitten by her killer, the Riverside County district attorney’s office said in a statement.
Huss fought back and her attacker left blood and saliva but the DNA couldn’t be matched until this month, when a cold case team used forensic genetic genealogy to identify Gadlin, who lived about a dozen miles away from Huss at the time of the killing, the DA’s office said.
“I hope Cheri and her family will finally get the justice they deserve,” District Attorney Mike Hestrin said.
Gadlin was jailed on $1 million bail. It wasn’t immediately clear whether he had an attorney who could speak on hiss behalf.