1982 Vacaville murder victim's childhood friend plays pivotal role in convicting killer
VACAVILLE – De Anna Lynn Johnson,14, never returned home after a party and her friend never gave up on finding the person responsible, playing a pivotal role in convicting the killer.
Mary Borchers is breathing a sigh of relief after her childhood best friend's killer was finally convicted of murder earlier this week.
"We know he's never ever going to be getting out to hurt another person and that was my main goal," she said.
Johnson went to a party in her own neighborhood in 1982, except she never returned home.
"She was a good girl," Borchers said.
The cold case is now solved after a connection was made to another murder in Butte County done by Marvin Markle, man commonly known as "Ziggy" in his teen years.
"Everybody knew, in our minds, it's always been Ziggy, Ziggy, Ziggy. But no one ever came straight out and made it factual, so now we have that I guess," Borchers said.
"People were not used to seeing something like this, of a young girl being murdered like this. And I went on and on and on with leads that we followed up on," said retired Vacaville Police Department Detective Joe Munoz.
This retired detective testified in the trial, bringing forth evidence from a decades-old case that still haunts him, considering how close he says he was to solving it.
"What I had was DNA in her fingernails. We had that, but we didn't know what DNA was during that time," he said.
Johnson's body was discovered just across the road from her house.
"I have probably a 98 or 99% clearance on homicides I work. I'm not going to solve this case, I'm going to be passed away and this guy is going to be on his feet walking around," Munoz said, "and nobody knew more than I know what this guy is capable of doing and what he did."
Borchers has spearheaded a search for justice for many years, playing a pivotal role in gathering evidence to land Markle behind bars for good.
"I still don't think that it's hit me, that this really happened after 42 years. How did we get here? Why did it take so long?" Borchers said.
"I give Mary Borchers a lot of credit. I'm retired and there's nothing I can do about it. She went to court every day. She was trying to help the parents and make sure Markle got what's coming to him," Munoz said.
As described by Borchers, Johnson was a bubbly, giggly teenager who put others before herself. Both Borchers and Munoz are feeling relieved.
"I got this weight off my shoulders now. The guy is convicted of two murders for life, never gets out again. For the parent's sake, De Anna's sake, it's over," Munoz said.
"Don't ever give up hope. Forty-two years later here we are, gotta keep fighting," Borchers said.
