{"id":789699,"date":"2026-05-11T22:37:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T22:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/789699\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T22:37:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T22:37:15","slug":"dna-jail-interview-focus-of-opening-statements-in-cold-case-murder-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/789699\/","title":{"rendered":"DNA, jail interview, focus of opening statements in cold case murder trial"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The plaintiff and defendants\u2019 tables as seen from the judge\u2019s bench in a courtroom at San Diego Superior Court. Photographed on April 8, 2026. (Photo by Thomas Murphy\/Times of San Diego)<\/p>\n

Attorneys duked it out Monday during opening statements in a cold case murder trial that happened to fall on what would have been the victim\u2019s 83rd birthday.<\/p>\n

Deputy District Attorney<\/a> Chris Lindberg told a San Diego jury that Randall Oyler<\/a> is linked to the killing of Margaret Orozco Jackson by DNA evidence and incriminating statements he made after his arrest. Jackson was severely beaten and strangled, and a rope was wrapped twice around her neck, the prosecutor said.<\/p>\n

Defense attorney Kara Oien, however, contends that the case arose from an inadequate police investigation and is reliant on flimsy evidence.<\/p>\n

Oyler, 65, is charged with killing Jackson, whose body was discovered on a hillside off Scripps Ranch Boulevard on July 11, 1990.<\/p>\n

The defendant, who was 29 years old when Jackson\u2019s body was discovered, was not identified as a suspect until testing conducted decades later. The break in the cold case came when the findings linked him to DNA found beneath the victim\u2019s fingernails and on other areas of her body, Lindberg said.<\/p>\n

Break in cold case<\/p>\n

Oyler was already in custody for an alleged probation violation when he was arrested in 2023 on suspicion of murdering Jackson.<\/p>\n

Lindberg said that while in custody, Oyler was placed in a cell with an undercover jail operative posing as an inmate.<\/p>\n

In video clips played in court, the two men can be heard discussing why Oyler was arrested.<\/p>\n

At one point, Oyler says, \u201cShe scratched me.\u201d<\/p>\n

In another clip, the operative asks Oyler if he \u201cjust left her there\u201d and Oyler responds that he \u201cthrew her down a hill.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Oien said none of the statements her client made amounted to confessions or admissions to murdering Jackson. She said Oyler\u2019s statements were \u201cvague remarks\u201d made in response to the operative\u2019s prodding questions about his case.<\/p>\n

The attorney also said the DNA evidence only told part of the story, as its presence alone couldn\u2019t show that Oyler had any involvement in Jackson\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe science can\u2019t tell you how the DNA got there, when the DNA got there, why the DNA\u2019s there. The DNA cannot prove violence and the DNA cannot prove murder,\u201d Oien said.<\/p>\n

The defense attorney said that until the DNA testing was conducted decades later, Oyler was not on the radar of investigators, who she said overlooked critical leads and failed to collect or test a number of items that could have led to answers back in 1990.<\/p>\n

Oien said, \u201cYou will not hear any reliable evidence that Mr. Oyler caused this death.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The plaintiff and defendants\u2019 tables as seen from the judge\u2019s bench in a courtroom at San Diego Superior…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":789700,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,5624,24543,3549,7264,10090,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-789699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-america","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-cold-case","tag-murder-trial","tag-san-diego","tag-sandiego","tag-scripps-ranch","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116558341784500082","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=789699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/789700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=789699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=789699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=789699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}