Gardena man indicted by grand jury in 1994 murder of local woman
A probationer accused of fatally stabbing a 39-year-old woman during an attack in her Desert Hot Springs apartment nearly three decades ago was re-arraigned today following a grand jury indictment for murder, pleading not guilty.
Sharron Eugene Gadlin, 50, of Gardena was arrested last year following a cold case investigation that culminated in DNA evidence allegedly linking him to the death of Cheri Huss in 1994.
Riverside County prosecutors had filed a criminal complaint against the defendant in March 2022.
"But due to the age of the case, the people elected to pursue an indictment via a grand jury as a means of more quickly moving the case toward trial,'' according to a District Attorney's Office statement released to City News Service Friday.
The indictment, which was handed down on Aug. 15, negates the requirement for a preliminary hearing, which had been scheduled for Friday at the Riverside Hall of Justice. Superior Court Judge Gail O'Rane scheduled a trial-setting conference for Nov. 17.
Gadlin is being held without bail at the Benoit Detention Center in Indio.
According to the District Attorney's Office, Huss was attacked on April 24, 1994, in her residence on Parma Drive.
Homicide investigators at the time determined that the victim attempted to fight off her assailant, who bit her and stabbed her multiple times, prosecutors said.
The assailant left behind blood evidence, as well as saliva around the bite marks, according to the D.A.'s office. That genetic evidence was preserved.
Over the years, cold case investigators endeavored on several occasions to test the DNA for matches in the state's Combined DNA Index System, but there were no hits. After further investigation, staff from the D.A.'s Bureau of Investigation narrowed down the possible list of perpetrators, and identified Gadlin as a possible attacker, prosecutors said.
He resided in Thousand Palms, roughly 12 miles from where the murder occurred, in April 1994, according to the D.A.'s office.
Other clues that pointed to him were not disclosed.
A warrant for a saliva sample was served on the defendant, who provided the sample on Feb. 14, 2022. Four days later, the alleged forensic connection to the crime was confirmed by the state CODIS laboratory, and Gadlin was taken into custody without incident at 135th Street and Western Avenue in Gardena.
District Attorney Mike Hestrin said in March 2022 that he hoped the victim's family would "get the justice they deserve and have waited so long for'' now that Gadlin was in the criminal justice system.
A possible motive for the attack has not been disclosed.
According to court records, Gadlin has prior misdemeanor convictions in the county for breaking and entering and public intoxication.
