On the morning of Nov. 13, 2014, Labh Nigah had just walked his son to school. On his way home, Oxnard police and Ventura County sheriff's investigators say he was ambushed in this neighborhood park next to his son's school.
"The initial responding officers located an unresponsive adult male and saw that he had multiple stab wounds," Oxnard police Chief Jason Benites said during a news conference. "Emergency medical service personnel pronounced the victim deceased at 8:55 a.m. that morning."
Last Thursday, investigators arrested 32-year-old Oxnard resident Jose Jimenez at his home. He's been charged with the murder of Nigah.
"I am still in a state of shock," Arshneel Kaur, the victim's daughter, told Eyewitness News after she learned about the breakthrough in the cold case.
Scientific evidence, including genetic genealogy evidence, led investigators to Jimenez, police said.
"Detectives were led to a relative of the defendant in Houston, Texas and later a sibling residing right here in Ventura County," Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko said at the press conference. "Through that process investigators identified Jose Jimenez, who lived just blocks from the crime scene when the alleged murder occurred."
Jimenez made his first court appearance Monday. He remains in custody, with his bail increased from $500,000 to $1 million. He is due back in court to be arraigned April 28.
Investigators say the attack on Nigah was random. The DA's office says they haven't identified a motive in the case.
Nigah's daughters shared that they are doing their best to continue to make their father proud.
"I'm never going to hear my dad ever tell me that he is proud of me," Nigah's oldest daughter Harleen Kaur said. "So there's always going to be that piece."