Eleanor Ojeda Casares, a 39-year-old Hispanic female from California, was one of the confirmed victims of convicted serial killer William Lester Suff. Her death occurred during a string of brutal murders that plagued Riverside County between 1986 and 1991. Suff, who became known by monikers such as the “Riverside Prostitute Killer” and the “Lake Elsinore Killer,” targeted women—many of whom were involved in sex work or struggling with addiction—and subjected them to horrific
violence before discarding their bodies in remote or public areas.
The body of 39-year-old Hispanic female Eleanor Ojeda Casares was discovered among the remains of other victims who had been strangled, stabbed, or mutilated. The pattern of violence in her case matched the disturbing modus operandi of Suff, who often inflicted post-mortem injuries and left forensic evidence linking him to multiple crime scenes. Casares, like many of the other women, was found in a state that indicated she had suffered extreme trauma prior to death, including signs of strangulation and stabbing.
William Lester Suff was arrested in January 1992 after a traffic stop led police to connect him to tire tracks found at several crime scenes. At the time of his arrest, he was employed as a warehouse clerk for Riverside County and had previously served time in Texas for the murder of his infant daughter. Despite that conviction, he had been released on parole in 1984 and relocated to California, where he resumed his killing spree.
In 1995, Suff was convicted of 12 counts of first-degree murder, including the murder of 39-year-old Hispanic female Eleanor Ojeda Casares. He was also found guilty of one count of attempted murder. The jury determined that he had committed the murders with special circumstances, including lying in wait and using a deadly weapon. He was sentenced to death and remains on death row at San Quentin State Prison.
The case of Eleanor Ojeda Casares stands as one of the most chilling examples of the failures in the criminal justice system that allowed a convicted murderer to reoffend. Her death, along with those of the other victims, ultimately led to one of the most high-profile serial murder trials in Riverside County history.
