Texas Truck Driver Charged In Nearly 30-Year-Old Cold Case Murder Of California Mother

On June 10, 2022, Douglas Thomas, a 67-year-old retired truck driver from Texas, was arrested in Riverside, California, after DNA and other evidence linked him to the 1993 murder of Sherri Herrera.

Thomas is accused of killing the 30-year-old mother of four, and in addition to murder, he is charged with a "special circumstance allegation that the killing occurred during the commission of a rape," the Riverside County District Attorney's Office announced in a statement this week.

Back on March 30, 1993, Herrera’s body was found along a freeway onramp off Interstate 10 near the Desert Center area of California. She was from Tulare County, so how her body ended up alongside the desert freeway, around 350 miles away near the halfway point between Palm Springs and the Arizona state line, remains a mystery, according to PEOPLE. Herrera was last seen alive a few days before her body was found.

Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin said the case was investigated but went cold because there were no suspects. It remained a cold case for nearly three decades.

Herrera's son Adrian, who was only six years old when his mother was killed, told ABC30, "I don't know if I really believed it, because it's like, man, this has been so long. I remember coming home from school, and my stepmom told us the news, what had happened. Me and my sister were there. Obviously, we started bawling our eyes out."

Thomas currently remains in custody in Titus County, Texas, reported CBS News. The alleged killer is awaiting trial for a different murder that occurred in Texas in 1992. After the conclusion of that case, he will be extradited to California to stand trial for the murder of Sherri Herrera.

The Riverside County District Attorney’s Office requests that anyone who may have seen anything suspicious around I-10 and Hayfield Road on or around March 30, 1993 or if you have any information about Herrera or Thomas, to please contact the Riverside County Regional Cold Case Homicide Team by calling (951) 955-2777.