An anonymous letter to police led to the arrest of a woman living in Texas after a Santa Ana slaying. Vikki Vargas reports May 4, 2022.
A Texas woman was in custody 26 years later, as Santa Ana police accuse her of killing her roommate, and telling them someone else did it.
New video shows Santa Ana detectives and the U.S. Marshals Lone Star Fugitive Task Force escorting Jade Benning to the Travis County Jail, where she was booked for murder in a cold case from 1996.
Police said two years ago an anonymous letter arrived at the police station implicating Benning, who would have been 22 years old at the time, in the slaying.
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Detectives said Christopher Hervey was stabbed numerous times January 4, 1996.
Neighbors told police they heard a loud argument inside the Broadway Street apartment for about 15 minutes. Benning who lived with Hervey told police a Black man forced his way into the home and killed her roommate.
Police say Benning moved to Las Vegas two decades ago and then to Texas. They say forensic evidence led to her arrest on a $1 million warrant.
The district attorney's office says still investigating but Benning is expected to be extradited back to Orange County to face the murder charge.
