Case of 2 Sailors Killed 18 Years Ago May Go to Trial

Two San Diego-based sailors found dead in Otay Mesa 18 years ago were each shot twice in the head and once in the chest from close range, a retired San Diego police homicide detective testified Wednesday.

David Swiskoski testified as a preliminary hearing got under way for Edward Jesus Elias and Leopoldo Castro Chavez II.

The 35-year-old defendants are charged with murder and special circumstance allegations in the Sept. 25, 1993, deaths of 20-year-old Eugene "Cliff" Ellis and 23-year-old Keith Combs, who were stationed aboard the aircraft carrier USS Constellation.

Swiskoski said the victims were found 10-12 feet apart in an area east of Palm Avenue and Interstate 805, where they went to have a bonfire and drink with other Navy personnel.

A half-dozen .22-caliber shell casings, a camera and a cigarette butt with freshly burned ashes were found near the bodies, the witness testified.

A few days after the slayings, Chavez was caught driving Ellis' stolen pickup in Tijuana and was arrested. He was questioned by detectives but they were unable to connect him to the murders, police said.

Although police recovered genetic evidence apparently belonging to the killer, the original investigation came to a dead end.

In November 2009, San Diego police laboratory personnel notified the department's cold-case investigators of a potential match between the previously unidentified biological evidence recovered from the site of the slayings and Chavez's profile in a national database. He was arrested in July 2010 at his home in Washington state and eventually extradited to San Diego.

Fingerprints found in the stolen vehicle pointed to Elias, who was arrested and charged in April, said prosecutor Andrea Freshwater.

At the conclusion of the preliminary hearing, which continues tomorrow, Judge Roger Krauel will decide if enough evidence was presented for the defendants to stand trial.

Both Chavez and Elias face life in prison without parole if convicted of all charges, Freshwater said. Since the defendants were both 17 at the time of the killings, they are not eligible for the death penalty, she said.

City News Service contributed to this report.