On the night of October 11, 1989, Cathy Paternoster, aged 32, was tragically shot and killed in the driveway of her home in Spring Valley Lake, California. Cathy and her boyfriend, Carl Fuerst, had just returned home with their children when a masked assailant emerged from the shadows and opened fire. Cathy was struck multiple times and died at the scene, while Carl was also shot but survived the attack.
The children, who were in the van at the time, witnessed the horrifying event.
The investigation into Cathy Paternoster's murder remained unsolved for nearly two decades. Initial suspicions fell on Eric Fagan, a former lawyer and the ex-boyfriend of Cathy's mother, Betty Paternoster. However, due to a lack of concrete evidence, no arrests were made at the time. The case went cold until 2008, when the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Cold Case Unit reopened the investigation. Advances in DNA technology led to the discovery of new evidence, including DNA from a latex glove found near the crime scene, which matched Fagan's DNA.
In 2009, Eric Fagan was arrested and charged with the murder of Cathy Paternoster. The prosecution argued that Fagan's motive was to gain custody of Cathy's daughters, whom he was allegedly obsessed with. Fagan had a history of conflict with Cathy, including allegations of molestation against her daughters, which further fueled the custody battle. Despite Fagan's claims of innocence and his alibi that he was in Santa Ana with his girlfriend at the time of the murder, the jury found him guilty in December 2012.
During the trial, it was revealed that Fagan had been living a seemingly normal life as a civil lawyer and author, while the Paternoster family continued to suffer from the loss of Cathy. The emotional impact of the murder was evident in the victim impact statements read in court, particularly from Carla Fuerst, who was only four years old when she witnessed her mother's murder. The judge sentenced Fagan to 30 years to life in prison without the possibility of parole, bringing some measure of closure to the Paternoster family after more than two decades of uncertainty and grief.
