Arrest made in 1999 murder, Yuba City police say. Here’s what it took to finally pull it off

Yuba City police on Friday made an arrest in the two-decade-old murder of Blanca Duenas-Arellano, who authorities say was killed by her husband.

According to the Yuba City Police Department, on July 26, 1999, then-27-year-old Francisco Arellano killed his estranged wife, 32, in the 600 block of Queens Avenue. He fled to Mexico with their two children, authorities said.

For the better part of two decades, Yuba City police were unable to locate him and resolve the cold case. But in 2019, investigators discovered that he’d been living in Morales, Mexico.

In conjunction with the Sutter County District Attorney’s Office and the Office of International Affairs, officers finally were able to apprehend him in June.

Arellano, now 51, was extradited Nov. 18 and booked into Sutter County jail on a no-bail warrant.

“The Yuba City Police Department hopes the arrest of Mr. Arellano helps to bring closure to Blanca Duenas’ family,” the department stated in its post.

Sandy Atkins, who lived across the hall from Duenas-Arellano when she was killed, called the murder “horrific.”

“I’m very happy he was arrested,” Atkins said.

“That was a horrific, bad situation, and I still sometimes think about that when I go back over there. I am just glad that that family is finally going to get some peace.”