SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY, Calif. (KEYT) – On Tuesday, the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office announced it has solved the 1983 murder of 41-year-old Dorothy 'Toby' Tate of Estes Park, Colorado.

On Nov. 15, 1983, deputies responded to a suspicious van parked at a Highway 1 turnout about three miles north of Hearst Castle stated a press release from the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office.

Detectives discovered the body of Tate who had been fatally shot in the head and blood samples of a potential suspect were recovered, but the initial investigation did not result in any suspects and the case has remained a cold case for more than forty years detailed the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office.

A DNA profile of an unidentified man was generated from the sample, but it did not match any known offenders in law enforcement databases noted Othram, a forensic laboratory that partners with law enforcement to solve cold cases based out of Woodlands, Texas.

In 2023, Cold Case Detective Clint Cole reopened the case with a review of the original evidence collected at the scene using updated investigative techniques including genealogical analysis in a partnership with Othram shared the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office.

Investigators were able to identify two deceased Texas men and, after a review by the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney's Office, it was determined that there was probable cause to support of the prosecution of the men if they were still alive explained the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office.

The 1983 case has now been officially declared exceptionally cleared added the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office.

According to the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office, blood evidence originally recovered at the scene was submitted for forensic analysis and Steven Richard Hardy was identified and confirmed through a DNA comparison with a close family member.

Fingerprints discovered on a Coca-Cola recovered during the initial investigation placed Charley Sneed at the scene of the crime and no evidence collected at the time or since indicate the involvement of any additional suspects concluded the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office.

Detectives in 1983 noted that Tate's camera was missing from her van and the murder is now believed to have likely happened during a burglary as Tate's camera was later pawned in California and exchanged hands multiple times shared the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office.

"This case demonstrates the power of modern forensic science and the commitment of Detective Cole, who never stopped working to bring justice to victims and their families," said Sheriff Parkinson.

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By Devan Cole, CNN

(CNN) — A federal judge on Tuesday ripped into Lindsey Halligan, President Donald Trump’s personal choice as the top federal prosecutor in the Eastern District of Virginia, after she used unusually sharp language to push back on the judge’s questioning of her authority, saying the “unnecessary rhetoric” had “a level of vitriol more appropriate for a cable news talk show.”

The assessment from US District Judge David Novak, who was appointed by Trump in 2019, is the latest dramatic development in a months-long legal saga surrounding Halligan, whose tenure was cut short after a judge determined in November that she was unlawfully serving in the role.

That decision, which effectively killed criminal cases Halligan brought at the president’s urging against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Democratic Attorney General Letitia James, should have also meant that Halligan no longer represented herself as the US attorney leading the office, according to judges in the district. But she continued to use the title on court documents, drawing the ire of Novak and other judges who thought she was openly flouting the ruling.

“Ms. Halligan has continued to identify herself as the United States Attorney for this District in pleadings, including on the indictment and other pleadings in this case,” Novak wrote in an 18-page ruling in a criminal case brought by Halligan’s office. “I elected to give Ms. Halligan an opportunity to explain her position … After reviewing Ms. Halligan’s filing and piercing through the unnecessary rhetoric, I find her position to be unavailing.”

“Ms. Halligan’s response, in which she was joined by both the Attorney General and the Deputy Attorney General, contains a level of vitriol more appropriate for a cable news talk show and falls far beneath the level of advocacy expected from litigants in this Court, particularly the Department of Justice,” the judge wrote. “The Court will not engage in a similar tit-for-tat.”

Novak said Halligan cannot continue to ignore the ruling issued last year by US District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie, which found that her appointment was invalid, and warned that Halligan “and anyone who joins her on a pleading containing the improper moniker” could be subjected to potential disciplinary action.

But he spared Halligan from facing such consequences for now. He pointed out she had no prosecutorial experience when she took the helm of the US Attorney’s office in September and said he was giving her the benefit of the doubt.

“In light of her inexperience, the court grants Ms. Halligan the benefit of the doubt and refrains from referring her for further investigation and disciplinary action regarding her misrepresentations to this Court at this time,” Novak wrote.

Help wanted: Judges advertise for a replacement to Halligan

Novak’s r