Tina Faelz Murder: One Of Pleasanton’s Most Notorious Cases Featured On A&E

PLEASANTON, CA — One of Pleasanton’s most notorious murders was featured again this week on an episode of A&E's "Cold Case Files." The public has consistently shown interest in the tragic case, which prompted a book and several television specials.

Former Pleasanton resident Steven Carlson was convicted of first-degree murder in 2014 in the brutal stabbing death of Tina Faelz. 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 when 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. For a map showing the area, click here.

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.

The victim's mother, Shirley Faelz Orosco, died unexpectedly on Feb. 13, 2014 — the same day the murder trial was scheduled to begin. Karen Reiff, Orosco's sister, believes she finally succumbed to the sadness of her daughter's death.

"My sister went through almost 30 years of hell after Tina's death, and I think she finally died of a broken heart," Reiff said in a previous Patch article. "The photos of Shirley with Tina show how happy she [Shirley] was before someone came and ruined her life. I looked at them and thought, 'How dare someone come and take a person from their mother, brother and family and kill them?' I mean, how dare they! I wish no other family in the world ever have to go through this. I truly do feel that if Tina had not been murdered, Shirley would be alive now. Thirty years of the stress and pain finally killed her. The murderer should be up for two murders as far as I'm concerned."

Reiff says Orosco was never the same after Faelz's death.

"After Tina was murdered, it all fell apart for Shirley," Reiff said. "She couldn't take it anymore. Who could? And she never got resolution! At least Shirley and Tina are together now in heaven and pain-free. You will always be in our hearts and memories and always loved."

The Remembering Tina Faelz Facebook page, created by Patch editors in August of 2011, garnered more than 160 "likes" in 24 hours. The page now has 769 followers who keep track of the case. Faelz' friends and former classmates post regularly on the page.

Related:

• Steven Carlson Convicted of First-Degree Murder of Tina Faelz
• Steven Carlson Gets 26 Years to Life in Prison
• Tina Faelz' Family Reflects, Says Sadness Killed Mom Some 30 Years Later
• Mother of Murder Victim Dies Same Day as Murder Trial Was to Begin

Bay City News contributed to this report

Photos contributed