SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Several years went by before Rita Castro was able to celebrate Christmas again after tragedy struck her during the holiday in 1978.
“My momma. She was so nice," said Castro, staring at a photograph of her mother, Martina Serpa, standing in front of their house that sat along Columbia Street in what is now Little Italy.
Investigators believe Serpa was killed on Christmas evening when two people broke into her home through her kitchen window, stabbing her in her bed.
Castro found her mother's body the following morning after Serpa never showed up for a family lunch.
"Everybody in my family died in that house. My dad died in the house; my brother had a heart attack in the house," said Castro.
Nearly 45 years later, the San Diego County District Attorney's (DA) Office is still working to find out who killed Serpa.
“It’s almost like she had a premonition that something bad would happen. She locked her doors; she had no visitors," said Tony Johnson, a senior investigator with the DA's office.
Johnson explained the cold case unit is using new DNA testing technology, hoping to identify criminals decades later.
“Martina had hand ace bandages around both hands, so we’re thinking that she would have struggled with the offender and we do have a DNA profile from those ACE bandages," said Johnson.
Castro says she eventually started celebrating Christmas again but still gets "a little bit sad."
Castro is now in her eighties and says she wants to know who killed her mother before she passes away.
If you have any information on the murder of Martina Serpa, you are urged to call Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477 or the San Diego County District Attorney's Office. You can remain anonymous.
