Cold case investigation: Police digging under Los Gatos strip mall parking lot

Police were seen this week digging and searching under the parking lot of a Los Gatos strip mall in a cold case homicide, that a source said may date back to the 1980s. 

The search began Monday afternoon, witnesses said, and resumed on Tuesday, with a large police pressence and K-9 units sniffing out a possible scent.

On Tuesday morning, there was a tent set up outside of Gardino’s Italian Restaurant on Santa Cruz Avenue. The actual digging site is behind the Site for Sore Eyes store front. 

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The site looked well established, with a police car, a white truck, chairs, mounds of dirt and plenty of Lowe's buckets on hand. 

Sgt. Enrique Garcia would not say what case the San Jose Police Department’s Homicide Unit was following up on, only that it was a "cold case homicide" in the 100 block of N. Santa Cruz Avenue in Los Gatos. He said he is not sharing anything else to "protect the integrity of the active investigation."

A law enforcement source told KTVU the case dated back to the 1980s. 

Neighbor Carol Sandman said that the possibility of finding someone murdered underground was hard to digest.

Her children went to school nearby and "to think that something nefarious happened a few steps away is very concerning." 

Police were seen searching for a body, believed to be buried under the parking lot of Gardino's Italian Restaurant in Los Gatos. March 3, 2020

Police were seen searching for a body, believed to be buried under the parking lot of Gardino's Italian Restaurant in Los Gatos. March 3, 2020

Police were seen searching for a body, believed to be buried under the parking lot of Gardino's Italian Restaurant in Los Gatos. March 3, 2020

Police were seen searching for a body, believed to be buried under the parking lot of Gardino's Italian Restaurant in Los Gatos. March 3, 2020

Police were seen searching for a body, believed to be buried under the parking lot of Gardino's Italian Restaurant in Los Gatos. March 3, 2020

Police were seen searching for a body, believed to be buried under the parking lot of Gardino's Italian Restaurant in Los Gatos. March 3, 2020

Police were seen searching for a body, believed to be buried under the parking lot of Gardino's Italian Restaurant in Los Gatos. March 3, 2020

Police were seen searching for a body, believed to be buried under the parking lot of Gardino's Italian Restaurant in Los Gatos. March 3, 2020