Anonymous Letter Sent To Cops Leads To Arrest Of Woman Accused Of Murdering Boyfriend In ‘96

Investigators in California identified and arrested a suspect in the cold case murder of a man after receiving an anonymous letter nearly three decades after the slaying.

Around 3 a.m. on Jan. 4, 1996, Jade Benning, then 22, claimed to officers that a Black man forced his way into the Santa Ana apartment she shared with her boyfriend, Christopher Hervey, also 22, The Orange County Register reported.

The intruder and Hervey scuffled, she said, claiming the man then stabbed her boyfriend multiple times and fled the residence.

Hervey later died from his injuries.

At the time, witnesses told detectives they heard “a loud argument” coming from inside the couple’s apartment for about 15 minutes and Benning “made general statements about the incident” to investigating officers, police recently said.

Despite the leads about a purported intruder and an argument, the case eventually went cold.

In January 2020, however, an anonymous letter sent to the Santa Ana Police Department implicated Benning in Hervey’s murder and breathed new life into the investigation.

According to police, a detective conducted extensive new interviews and consulted with forensic experts about the case.

On the afternoon of May 3, agents from the U.S. Marshals Lone Star Fugitive Task Force took Benning, now 48, into custody near her home in Austin, Texas, where she had relocated after living for years in Las Vegas, Nevada.

She was expected to be extradited to California to face charges in connection to her former boyfriend’s death.