A Monterey County jury convicted a man accused of killing a Prunedale restaurant owner and his mother-in-law in 1991, the Monterey County Sheriff’s office said on Wednesday.
The man was identified as 86-year-old Ira Ulyesses Bastian, a former employee, and he was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of George Smith and Eva Thompson, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Prunedale 1991 cold case killings
On Nov. 11, 1991, Smith’s wife found him and her own mother dead inside their Prunedale restaurant. The Sheriff’s Office said Smith had been stabbed multiple times, and Thompson was found dead on her bed after having been attacked.
The Sheriff’s Office said the Smiths lived in the same area as the restaurant…