A suspect has been arrested for the 1979 killing of Keith Judd, Sunnyvale authorities announced Friday.
On July 19, 1979, 45-year-old Judd died after being brutally attacked while in his own bar, the Lakewood Lounge, police said.
In a video posted online, authorities said a bar employee found Judd lying on the floor in a pool of blood. Sunnyvale police arrived and took Judd to a local hospital, where he died of his injuries.
Later that week, detectives identified and arrested a suspect, but after careful review, the district attorney's office determined there was insufficient evidence to file murder charges and the suspect was released.
Police said the case then went cold until 2018, when Detective Matt Hutchison was able to locate fingerprint evidence that had been misplaced for years.
As a result, a suspect named Thomas Hinnard was identified as having left fingerprints inside the lounge in the specific area where the killing occurred, the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety said.
Hutchison also determined that Hinnard lived in Sunnyvale at the time of the killing, worked at a business located in the same shopping center as the Lakewood Lounge and was a lounge patron, officials said.
When he was re-interviewed, Hinnard lied several times and made numerous incriminating statements, according to SDPS.
On February 12, detectives from SDPS and deputies from the Tuolumne County Sheriff's Office arrested Hinnard in Sonora for the murder of Judd.
Officials said Hinnard is currently in custody at the Santa Clara County main jail.
