Murder of Suzanne Bombardier

Fourteen-year-old Bombardier was an honor roll student at Antioch Junior High at the time of her homicide. She also belonged to the California Junior Scholastic Federation. This kept it top of mind for the public and later for investigators. In 2015, DNA samples from Bombardier's case were sent to the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office Forensic Laboratory for them to create a DNA profile. In early 2017, after advancements in DNA analysis technology, Antioch police were notified that a CODIS hit was made that tentatively identified Bacom as the perpetrator. After additional testing, when the samples were conclusively linked to Bacom through a federal DNA database, he was taken into custody without incident at his home. == Perpetrator ==

Mitchell Lynn Bacom (born March 21, 1954), a native of Knightsen, California, was a suspect in the case for a long time. In 1973, Bacom was tried for several crimes, convicted, and sentenced to five years to life imprisonment. In 1981, he was convicted for several more crimes and sentenced to 24 years in prison. In 2002, he failed to register as a sex offender and was sentenced to four years in prison. On March 15, 2022, a Contra Costa jury convicted Bacom of Bombardier's murder. He was convicted of first-degree murder, along with special circumstances for the commission of the murder during the course of the burglary, kidnapping, and rape. Bacom was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on June 27, 2022. At the sentencing hearing, prosecutors said Bacom allegedly confessed to a former cellmate that he "raped and sliced" sex workers across the country when he was a truck driver. == See also ==