Murder of Suzanne Bombardier

Suzanne Arlene "Suzie" Bombardier, (March 14, 1966 – June 22, 1980)[1] was kidnapped, raped, and stabbed to death on June 22, 1980. On June 27, her body was found by a fisherman, floating in the San Joaquin River east of Antioch, California near its bridge, 60 miles (97 km) east of San Francisco. On December 11, 2017, after extensive DNA profiling, 63-year-old Mitchell Lynn Bacom, a convicted sex offender, was arrested as the prime suspect. He was charged with and convicted of kidnapping, rape, oral copulation, murder, and murder with use of a deadly weapon.[2] This was Antioch's oldest cold case murder. At the time of Bombardier's homicide, Bacom was known to her family.

Murder of Suzanne Bombardier
Suzanne Bombardier
LocationAntioch, California US
Coordinates38.000079°N 121.848873°W / 38.000079; -121.848873
DateJune 22, 1980 (1980-06-22) (Pacific Time Zone)
WeaponsKnife
VictimSuzanne Bombardier
PerpetratorMitchell Lynn Bacom
ChargesKidnapping, sodomy, oral copulation, rape, murder, murder with use of a deadly weapon

Bombardier was raped, stabbed in the chest, and her heart was punctured. She was kidnapped from her sister's townhome in Antioch while she was babysitting her nieces. Her sister, Stephanie Mullen, arrived home at 4:00 a.m. to find Bombardier missing.[3] Bombardier's father, Ted, said that she knew her killer, as there was no forced entry.

Background

Fourteen-year-old Bombardier was an honor roll student at Antioch Junior High at the time of her homicide. She also belonged to the California Junior Scholastic Federation.[2] She was buried at Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Lafayette. Jennifer Kathleen Gibbons came across her grave in 2014 and started blogging about the unsolved case.[4] This kept it top of mind for the public and later for investigators.[5][6]

Bacom's mug shot, 1974
Bacom's California driver's license photo

In 2015, DNA samples from Bombardier's case were sent to the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office Forensic Laboratory for them to create a DNA profile. In early 2017, after advancements in DNA analysis technology, Antioch police were notified that a CODIS hit was made that tentatively identified Bacom as the perpetrator. After additional testing, when the samples were conclusively linked to Bacom through a federal DNA database, he was taken into custody without incident at his home.[2][7]

In 1973 Bacom was tried for several crimes, convicted, and sentenced to five years to life imprisonment. In 1981 he was convicted for several more crimes and sentenced to 24 years in prison. In 2002 he failed to register as a sex offender and was sentenced to four years in prison.[2][3][8]

Perpetrator

Mitchell Lynn Bacom (born March 21, 1954) is a native of Knightsen, California. He has brown eyes, and brown hair. He is 5'7", and weighs 185 pounds.[9] He was a suspect in the case for a long time.[3] Authorities will attempt to match Bacom's DNA to other cold cases.[10]

On March 15, 2022, a Contra Costa jury convicted Mitchell Bacom for the murder of 14-year-old Suzanne Bombardier. Bacom was convicted of first-degree murder, along with special circumstances for the commission of the murder during the course of the burglary, kidnapping, and rape.[11]

Bacom was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on June 27, 2022. At the sentencing hearing, prosecutors said Bacom allegedly confessed to a former cellmate that he "raped and sliced" sex workers across the country when he was a truck driver.[12]

See also

References
  1. "Antioch man charged with Suzanne Bombardier's 1980 rape, murder to be tried". The Mercury News. September 11, 2019. Retrieved December 18, 2019.
  2. Swan, Rachel; Ma, Annie (December 11, 2017). "Arrest in notorious 1980 slaying of Antioch teen Suzanne Bombardier". SFGate. Archived from the original on December 12, 2017. Retrieved December 12, 2017.
  3. Gartrell, Nate; Davis, Aaron; Coetsee, Rowena (December 12, 2017). "Antioch police make arrest in 37-year-old kidnapping, homicide case". East Bay Times. Archived from the original on December 12, 2017. Retrieved December 12, 2017.
  4. Gibbons, Jennifer Kathleen (January 3, 2015). "My obsession with a cold case". Salon. Archived from the original on December 10, 2017. Retrieved December 12, 2017.
  5. Coetsee, Rowena (July 1, 2015). "Former Antioch cops spotlight 35-year-old cold case". The Mercury News. Archived from the original on April 28, 2017. Retrieved December 12, 2017.
  6. Lieu, Amy (December 12, 2017). "Arrest in decades-old murder of 14-year-old California girl". Fox News. Archived from the original on December 12, 2017. Retrieved December 12, 2017.
  7. Clifford, Charles; Cestone, Vince (December 12, 2017). "Arrest made in 1980 cold-case murder of Antioch girl". KRON4.com. Archived from the original on December 12, 2017. Retrieved December 12, 2017.
  8. Payton, Allen (June 8, 2015). "Former officers offer assistance to solve cold case of Suzanne Bombardier, murdered in Antioch 35 years ago | Antioch Herald". antiochherald.com. No. 8. Archived from the original on September 14, 2016. Retrieved December 12, 2017.
  9. "Offender Profile: Bacom, Mitchell Lynn". California Megan's Law Website: State of California Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
  10. Kim, Lilian (December 12, 2017). "Antioch police say DNA tech helped solve city's oldest open cold case". ABC7 San Francisco. Archived from the original on December 12, 2017. Retrieved December 12, 2017.
  11. "Man convicted in 1980 cold-case murder of 14-year-old Antioch girl". KRON4. March 17, 2022. Retrieved March 18, 2022.
  12. "'He's a predator': At sentencing hearing, Contra Costa prosecutor reveals jailhouse informant tied Suzanne Bombardier's killer to more attacks". The Mercury News. June 27, 2022. Retrieved June 27, 2022.
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