Staff Reports

San Bernardino – On May 27, 1991, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department (SBCSD) responded to the report of a death in the 1800 Block of Santa Fe Avenue. When deputies arrived, they found the victim, Cynthia White, dead from strangulation. Homicide detectives interviewed numerous possible suspects until the case went cold in 1993.

In 2012, the SBCSD’s homicide cold case team re-opened the case and submitted new evidence for DNA analysis. The following year in June, Dean Eric Dunlap was identified as the primary suspect for White’s murder and began to be investigated. Unbeknownst to detectives, Dunlap was already in prison, on death row, for the kidnapping, murder, and rape of a 9-year-old girl.

At the end of the investigation, Deputy District Attorney Denise Yoakum reviewed the case and charged Dunlap with murder on October 4, 2016. Dunlap’s bail was set at $1,000,000. He is currently serving on death row at San Quentin State Prison and will be transferred to San Bernardino County to face his charges.

Anyone with information is encouraged to call Detective Patty Ruiz, Detective Ed DeLaTorre, or Sergeant Greg Myler at 909-387-3589. Anyone wishing to remain anonymous can call the We-tip Hotline at 1-800-782-7463 or can go online at http://www.wetip.com.