California investigators have solved a cold case that lasted for more than 30 years after comparing fingerprints collected from the kidnapping scene to those of a convicted killer.
In his Monday statement, the Alameda County District Attorney announced that David Misch, who is now 59-year-old, was indeed the suspect who kidnapped Michaela Garecht and likely murdered her in 1988.
Michaela, 9, went along with a friend buying snacks from Rainbow Grocery in Hayward and were riding scooters.
The kids entered the store and left their bikes outside, and that was when Misch grabbed Michaela’s scooter and hid it behind his car that was parked nearby.
When the victim didn’t find her scooter where it was left, she looked for it with the friend and went to retrieve it from behind Misch’s car.
The friend told police that when Michaela approached the bike, someone snatched her as she walked by the window and forced her inside. She has never been seen again and her remains had not been located since.
“Fingerprints found on the scooter she was riding at the time she was abducted matched Misch’s fingerprints. Further, eyewitness evidence places Misch in the immediate location at the time the kidnapping occurred,” authorities said.
Besides Michaela, Misch is accused of three other murders in Hayward and Fremont: The 1989 stabbing death of Margaret Ball, and the 1986 killings of Michelle Xavier and Jennifer Duey.
