Clues still sought in 2002 cold case
May 10—Over two decades after she was found dead in a Sutter County orchard, Carolina Guillen's murder remains unsolved. As the 22nd anniversary of the case approaches, the Sutter County Sheriff's Office is encouraging those who may have information on the incident to come forward.
Guillen, 20, was a student at Yuba College and worked as a teacher's aide for Head Start in Olivehurst. She was a Sutter Union High School graduate, an honor student, and remembered as a caring woman with a warm personality.
On the evening of May 18, 2002, just a few weeks after Guillen moved out of her parents' home in Meridian to a house on Lincoln Road in Yuba City, she was reportedly summoned to a payphone area of the Quik Stop Market down the street. Guillen lived with roommates, and went to the store in response to a phone call from an unknown individual.
According to the Sutter County Sheriff's Office, investigators believe that Guillen met at least one person on the east side of the store and that they left the parking area in her vehicle — a 1999 black Honda Civic — driving south on Walton Avenue.
Security footage captured her car entering and leaving the parking lot, but did not show her exiting the vehicle or letting anyone in. Investigators also believe that the meeting between Guillen and any potential suspects was not suspicious and therefore did not attract attention.
Guillen was called to the Quik Stop between 6:30 and 7 p.m. By 7:30 p.m., a cyclist found her body in an orchard near Bogue Road and Walton Avenue just outside of Yuba City, where the Sheriff's Office believes Guillen was killed. She was shot multiple times in the face.
Guillen's purse was never found, according to Appeal-Democrat archives, but robbery was not considered a motive since the credit cards inside were never used and Guillen was still wearing jewelry when she was found.
Guillen's car was found early the next morning in the Quik Stop parking lot, according to Appeal archives. The windows were left open, and while some evidence was found at the time, no suspects have been identified in over two decades.
Sutter County Undersheriff Scott Smallwood said that investigators are consistently seeking new avenues to obtain information on unsolved crimes, but Guillen's case likely relies on someone speaking up. The last time investigators received anonymous tips was around 2010, but they ended up being "bogus tips," he said.
According to Smallwood, Guillen's father passed away in recent years and her mother has since moved away from the area. With little of Guillen's family remaining in Yuba-Sutter, the Sheriff's Office hopes that a witness to the 2002 crime will eventually come forward.
"We look through new technology to see if there was anything, and in this case there isn't. We look to see if there's evidence we can process from 2002, but there's not. Really with this one, it does come down to needing someone to come forward," Smallwood said. "There's a lot of, unfortunately, answers that are unanswered and it's going to come down to someone knows something."
Guillen was an adult Hispanic woman with shoulder length black hair, and she was found wearing a red short-sleeved T-shirt, navy blue full-length nylon-type exercise pants, white tennis shoes and a pair of sunglasses. She was known to play loud music from her car and may have done so when she arrived at the Quik Stop Market.
Additional surveillance footage from the Quik Stop Market shows multiple people entering and exiting the store who may have seen or heard something that will aid the investigation, the Sheriff's Office said.
The Carole Sund/Carrington Memorial Reward Foundation has agreed to sponsor a $5,000 reward leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for Guillen's death.
Anyone with information related to the case is asked to call the Sutter County Sheriff's Office at 530-822-7307.
