Investigators Seek Leads In Unsolved Dublin Homicide

DUBLIN, CA — If Francis Rash was alive today she would be 80 years old. She probably would have watched her two children graduate from college and get married. Maybe she would have held grandchildren in her arms. Sadly, those moments were stolen from Rash when she was fatally shot in her Dublin home more than forty years ago.

On Jan. 2, 1979 at 9:25 a.m, the Dublin mother stumbled across an armed intruder in her home located in the 6700 block of Tory Way. Investigators said the unidentified person had captured her children, tied them up and left them on the floor. Although the children were able to escape and call for help, their mother was not as fortunate. The suspect took her to a bedroom and shot her, according to the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office.

Homicide investigators said that prior to their mother’s death, one of the children took two phone calls from a man who claimed to work for Gemco and told the child they won a drawing.

Investigators said the Asian man appeared to be in his 20s or 30s, according to witnesses. He had shoulder-length hair, glasses and weighed about 150-160 pounds. He was wearing an orange jacket, dark-colored pants and was carrying a brown case.

The Alameda County Sheriff’s Office shared details of the homicide, along with a sketch of the suspect, in an effort to generate new leads and solve the cold case.

The murder of Tina Faelz in Pleasanton was of the most infamous cold cases ever solved in Alameda County. Unsolved until 2011, interest still lingers around the tragic 1984 murder that took the teen's life and eventually put Steven Carlson behind bars. Carlson, a former Pleasanton resident, was convicted of first-degree murder in 2014 in the brutal stabbing death.

However, in January 2017, a three-judge Court of Appeal panel said the conviction must be reduced to second-degree murder because prosecutors hadn't proved the element of premeditation and deliberate intent needed for a first-degree murder conviction.

Faelz, a freshman at Foothill High School, died after suffering 44 stab wounds while she was on her way home from school on the afternoon of April 5, 1984. Her body was found in a drainage ditch adjacent to Interstate Highway 680, east of the high school. Carlson lived nearby on Lemonwood Way.

The case was cold for more than two decades, but in 2011, authorities announced that DNA investigations begun in 2007 linked a spot of blood found on Faelz's purse, which was found hanging from a tree at the homicide scene, to Carlson. Carlson, who then had a criminal record that included convictions for drug crimes and a lewd act on a 13-year-old girl, was arrested and charged with the murder. He was tried as an adult and convicted.

Anyone with information about the Dublin case is asked to call the Cold Case Homicide Unit investigators at 510-667-3661. Witnesses may remain anonymous. The anonymous tip line is 510-667-3622.

Sketch courtesy Alameda County Sheriff’s Office