A woman is found severely beaten and strangled On December 20, 1989, 39-year-old Tamara Moats was found murdered in Walnut Creek, California, at the intersection of Clifton Court and Lancaster Drive. Her death was particularly violent, as she had been severely beaten and strangled. Despite a thorough investigation by the Walnut Creek Police Department, it took several years before authorities could identify a suspect in the case.
In 1995, Arturo Ochoa Sanchez was named as the main suspect, and a one-million-dollar murder warrant was issued for his arrest.
Arturo Ochoa Sanchez was deported to Mexico in 1990, and his whereabouts have remained largely unknown since then. The Walnut Creek Police Department, in collaboration with agencies like the U.S. Marshals, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and INTERPOL, continues to search for Sanchez in hopes of bringing him to justice. Despite these efforts, the case has not seen any significant breakthroughs since Sanchez’s deportation, making it one of the city's long-standing unsolved cases.
The tragic circumstances surrounding Tamara Moats’ death left her community shaken. Efforts to locate the suspect have persisted over the years, but without recent sightings or substantial leads, justice for Moats remains elusive. The case is remembered as one of the more brutal unsolved homicides in Walnut Creek’s history, with law enforcement still appealing for public assistance in tracking down Sanchez, who remains at large to this day.
