A verdict has been reached in the Combs and Ellis trial. Edward Jesus Elias and Leopoldo Castro Chavez II were accused of robbing and fatally shooting Combs and Ellis, two San Diego-based sailors.
Though detectives who documented the murder scene recovered fingerprints and genetic evidence apparently belonging to the killer(s), the original investigation yielded no arrests.
The verdict is expected to be read at 11:15 a.m.
I will update this as soon as I have the information!
UPDATE: Edward Jesus Elias and Leopoldo Castro Chavez II were convicted on first-degree murder charges. San Diego Superior Court Judge Joan Weber scheduled a sentencing hearing for May 11 when Elias and Chavez face sentences of life in prison without parole. The defendants were not eligible for the death penalty because they were both 17 at the time of the killings.
The jurors who convicted the defendants also found that the Sept. 25, 1993 murders of Eugene “Cliff” Ellis(20) and Keith Combs(23) were committed during a robbery, along with a second special circumstance allegation of multiple murders.
Case: On Sept. 25, 1993, the bodies of sailors Keith Combs (23) and Eugene Ellis (20) were found in an undeveloped area east of Palm Avenue and Interstate 805. They had been shot to death. A truck belonging to one of them had been stolen. In 2012, Edward Jesus Elias and Leopoldo Chavez II, both 36, were found guilty of first-degree murder and special-circumstance allegations including murder during a robbery.