30 years after a dad was found murdered, cops say they have cracked the case. His ex and her new boyfriend are accused of the killing
More than three decades after a young father was found shot to death in his Northern California home, investigators say they’ve solved the case – and have arrested two people they allege were behind the 1993 killing.
Zachary Jackson, 30, was discovered dead inside his Hayward, California home on June 17, 1993. Investigators believe he was killed around June 14, but relatives did not find his body for several days after they had not heard from him, Alameda County Sheriff’s Detective Pat Smyth said at a press conference on Monday.
Now, after years of no answers, investigators say Jackson’s former partner, Veronica Fonseca, and her boyfriend at the time, Anthony Fox, are responsible for his murder.
“We believe they were both there and that Mr Fox was the one who pulled the trigger,” Smyth said.
“At the time, Miss Fonseca was interviewed several times by our investigators, but there was nothing at the time that led them to believe she had any involvement in this case,” he continued.
“As you can imagine, in 1993, they did not have a lot of the things we have available to us today, investigatively, to find leads. No electronic footprint like we have these days; they relied heavily on witnesses, fingerprints, that sort of thing. DNA was in its infancy.”
Before Jackson’s death, he and Fonseca were raising two children, a four-year-old daughter in his custody and a one-year-old son in Fonseca’s care, Smyth noted.
For years, investigators chased theories, including a possible dispute between Jackson and his landlord, but none led to an arrest. So without any viable leads, the case went cold.
Then, in 2014, a tip came in to police that named Fonseca and Fox as the people allegedly connected to Jackson’s death. Investigators began looking into the lead but according to Smyth, “encountered a roadblock” that stalled the case once again.
Seven years later, in 2021, another anonymous tip submitted to the sheriff’s website pointed to the same two names – Fonseca and Fox. The tipster later agreed to speak with Smyth, but the case was stalled by what he described as “an impediment.”
“The case really didn’t move forward until this year, when we developed an investigative plan to try to bring this case forward,” Smyth said. “Over the last few months, there’s been a lot of investigative resources poured into this case, and more witnesses cooperated and told a similar story as to our previous tipsters.”
On November 6, the case finally broke open.
Fonseca, now 54, was arrested at her home in Queens, New York, and Fox, 56, was taken into custody the same day outside his home in Sioux City, Iowa, according to the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office. Both are charged with murder and first-degree residential burglary, with sentencing enhancements for the use of a firearm.
Details about the new evidence that finally led to charges were not provided, with Smyth saying that they did not want to jeopardize the prosecution.
“This case is a good example of what happens when good people have the courage to come forward and tell law enforcement what they know, coupled with law enforcement leveraging all the investigative resources to bring a resolution to this case,” Smyth said.
Alameda County District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson praised the multi-agency effort that led to the charges, calling it an overdue step toward justice.
“We cannot forget that victims desire and require closure in cases,” Dickson said. “This is a case that took 32 years to resolve, but murder has no limit on when we can charge you.”
Fonseca and Fox will both be extradited to Alameda County to face arraignment in the coming weeks.
