Q: Has the murder of a Sacramento County sheriff's deputy several years ago been solved? - Anonymous, Sacramento
A: The case has not been solved and remains an open homicide investigation.
On Oct. 27, 2006, Deputy Jeffrey Mitchell, 38, was shot to death after making a pre-dawn traffic stop on a rural Sacramento County road.
Mitchell was patrolling solo when he sent a computer message to dispatchers that he was checking on a white Chevrolet van with no license plates at Meiss and Dillard roads, The Bee reported.
He also said he was "OK."
Minutes later, a concerned dispatcher sent other deputies to check on Mitchell. They found him on the ground, dead from a single gunshot wound to the head. Later, investigators found that Mitchell had been killed with his own county-issued handgun.
Firearms experts and forensic pathologists have determined conclusively that the death was a homicide.
Along with a partial DNA sample, investigators said a set of fingerprints was collected from a key item at the scene of the shooting. Those prints were compared with millions of others in national crime databases, and no matches were found.
The lack of a fingerprint match suggests a high probability that the owner of the prints is not in the criminal justice system, investigators said.
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