Sheriff’s photo of the 1983 crime scene where Dorothy Tate, 41 of Colorado was murdered by Steven Hardy and Charlie Sneed. Photo courtesy SLO County Sheriff
The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Department said it has officially solved a murder mystery that dates back to the early 1980s but the two men believed responsible will not face justice.
According to Sheriff’s spokesman, Tony Cipolla, the department “has officially solved the 1983 murder of Dorothy ‘Toby’ Tate, bringing resolution to a case that remained unsolved for more than four decades.”
Tate’s body was discovered in a van parked on a Hwy 1 turnout about 4-miles north of Hearst Castle on Nov. 15, 1983. She had been shot to death.
“The case initially yielded no known suspects,” Cipolla said, “and remained an open cold case for many years.”
Current Cold Case/Unsolved Homicide Det. Clint Cole reopened the case and took a fresh look at the evidence making use of modern techniques, including “advanced DNA genealogy analysis,” which led them to a Texas man, who was already dead.
“Blood evidence recovered at the crime scene,” Cipolla said, “was submitted for forensic genealogy, which identified Steven Richard Hardy as a contributor.”
Cipolla said they confirmed Hardy’s identification through DNA comparison with a close family member. Another piece of evidence identified a second Texas man, who was involved in the murder, and also was already dead.
“Additional evidence from the original investigation,” Cipolla said, “including fingerprints recovered from a Coca-Cola can found at the scene, placed Charley Sneed at the crime scene.”
Det. Cole “determined that the two men were involved in the murder of Toby Tate beyond a reasonable doubt,” Cipolla said. “The evidence indicated the crime was likely committed during a burglary or theft, as property belonging to the victim was later pawned in California.”
Det. Cole’s conclusions were submitted to the District Attorney’s Office for review. “Given the totality of the evidence,” Cipolla said, “the Sheriff’s Office has requested and received review by the District Attorney’s Office confirming that sufficient probable cause exists to support prosecution had the suspects been alive. The case has now been officially closed as ‘exceptionally cleared.’”
The Tate Murder resolution is the latest successful cold case solve for Det. Cole.
“Detective Cole has been instrumental in helping solve other high-profile cases,” Cipolla said, “including the murders of Kristin Smart and Nancy Woodrum.” The Sheriff said this shows the value in continuing to work on unsolved cases.
“This case demonstrates the power of modern forensic science and the commitment of Det. Cole,” Sheriff Ian Parkinson said, “who never stopped working to bring justice to victims and their families.”
According to the website: dnasolves.com, Tate was 41 and from Estes Park, Colo. when she was found shot in the head in a 1970s Chevy van parked along Hwy 1.
The stolen items included a camera that was traced to a pawnshop a few years later, but it had been bought and sold “a number of times and none of the transactions led to an arrest,” dnasolves.com said.
The blood evidence that was submitted for DNA testing initially didn’t match anyone in crime databases, so in 2023 Det. Cole submitted the evidence to a forensic DNA lab, Othram, hoping it would identify the possible killer.
Othram, based in The Woodland, Texas, is a forensic DNA laboratory that works with police agencies in the U.S. and other countries, helping identify human remains and to solve cold cases. Othram and dnasolves.com are parts of the same company.
A DNA profile was developed using that original blood evidence, and from that, a comprehensive DNA profile for the unknown suspect was built using Forensic-Grade Genome Sequencing.
The DNA profile was then submitted to a forensic genetic genealogy search, which led them to Hardy. The fingerprints found on the soda can lead them to the second suspect, Sneed.
According to dnasolves.com, this marks “the 74th publicly announced case in the State of California where officials leveraged Othram’s identity inference pipeline.” Kristen Mittelman, Chief Development Officer for Othram, the company that analyzed the DNA, told Estero Bay News, “It doesn’t matter how old a case is, if there’s DNA, the technology is here today that can identify suspects, which means victims and families of victims don’t have to wait and wonder.” See: othram.com for more on this cutting-edge technology.
Cipolla said they had help with the case. “The Sheriff’s Office wishes to thank Parabon Nanolabs and Head Genealogist CeCe Moore; Othram Labs; Shelby Liddell with the Sheriff’s Crime Lab; and Dominick Rostenberg from the Phoenix Police department.”
