SAN FRANCISCO (TCN) — A man awaiting trial for a Denver cold case death is now accused of fatally strangling another victim in San Francisco more than three decades ago.
According to the San Francisco Police Department, on May 2, 1992, 45-year-old Nancy Hernandez was found deceased in a utility tunnel on Hang Ah Alley. Police said Hernandez was homeless and stayed in the space where she was found.
The San Francisco Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined Hernandez had been beaten, strangled, and sexually assaulted. In 2005, officials sent in DNA samples to the crime lab for further investigation. The case eventually went cold. The San Francisco Police Department Homicide Cold Case Unit reopened the case in October 2023, and DNA profiles were entered in to the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). Investigators named Ricky Dawson as a suspect, and authorities issued an arrest warrant against him on Jan. 2 on a charge of murder in Hernandez’s death.
San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott said, “No matter how old a case is, this is proof that we will never rest until a case is solved. I want to thank our homicide and cold case investigators who have worked diligently on this case to bring justice to Ms. Hernandez and her family.”
Dawson is also accused of three other sexual assault slayings in Panama Beach, Florida, Seattle, and Denver. He will be extradited back to San Francisco following his trial in Denver in a separate cold case death.
According to the Denver District Attorney’s Office, Dawson allegedly killed 35-year-old Terri Turachak, who was found deceased in her apartment in October 1996. Investigators determined she died of strangulation and blunt force trauma. The district attorney filed charges of murder and attempted sexual assault against Dawson in early 2023.
Dawson pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in Panama City, Florida, in 2004. Records show he was released from the Florida Department of Corrections in 2023.