It was a murder mystery that captured the attention of a community. A 14-year old girl was found beaten and stabbed to death in an abandoned Golden Hill home on New Year's Eve 2007.
Now, San Diego Police say they have solved that mystery and have made in arrest in the case of Ahlyja Pinson.
Police have identified Antero Cruz, 23, as being responsible for the murder. He was arrested Thursday night at a home on the 2800 block of Clay Avenue and booked into county jail for murder.
On Dec. 31, 2007, at about 7:20 p.m., a homeless man discovered Pinson in an abandoned house in the 2900 block of E Street in Golden Hill. The girl appeared top be injured and unconscious. The man left the house and borrowed a cell phone to call police, who arrived a short time later and found Pinson dead inside the house.
At the time of her killing, police said the house was a haven for transients and drug dealers.
Pinson's mother had reported her daughter missing after she discovered she wasn't at a relative's house as she had previously thought.
"I'm asking everyone to help me find whoever did this to my child," Adriana Pinson, the teen's mother, said shortly after the killing.
Ahlyja had moved back to San Diego from Oklahoma a short time prior to the killing.
Just weeks after the case, Cruz was arrested by police on a parole violation. He was later released.
