Investigators Seek Leads In Unsolved Homicide

ALAMEDA COUNTY, CA — The Alameda County Sheriff’s Office is asking for the public's help identifying the person responsible for killing a 22-year-old man whose body was found dumped near mile marker 1.9 on Old Altamont Pass Road in 1988. Investigators say Maurice Hill had been shot.

He was last seen in Oakland in the back of a two-door brown Volvo on 85th Ave. and D Street, according to authorities. The driver of the vehicle was described as a man in his 20s. He was wearing a black hat and leather coat. The passenger of the vehicle was described as a heavyset man in his 30s.

Anyone with information is asked to call the cold case homicide investigators directly at 510-667-3661. To remain anonymous, witnesses may provide information by contacting the anonymous tip line at 519-667-3622 with any information.

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.

See Also:

• Cold Case: Investigators Seek Leads In 1973 Homicides
• Grisly Double Homicide Solved Thanks To DNA: Livermore Police
• Investigators Seek Leads In Unsolved Dublin Homicide