Nearly a month after Rene Ortega was stabbed to death on East
Street after a bar fight at Pancho’s Restaurant and Bar, police are
still searching for his killer.
Nearly a month after Rene Ortega was stabbed to death on East Street after a bar fight at Pancho’s Restaurant and Bar, police are still searching for his killer.
Hollister Police Capt. Bob Brooks said there have been no new developments with the investigation – but that the department was committed to catching the killer.
“These things ebb and flow,” Brooks said this week. “Unfortunately, there’s just nothing new to report.”
Ortega was stabbed on East Street between Pancho’s and Paine’s Restaurant and Bar in the early hours of June 1.
Paine’s owner Tony Garcia said he was outside his restaurant and saw Ortega stumble toward him, pleading for help, before he collapsed on the sidewalk in front of him.
Garcia also said he saw four men running north on East Street before turning west on Fourth Street, immediately after the stabbing.
The altercation inside Pancho’s before the stabbing prompted the bartenders to close early, Pancho’s owner Maria Jimenez has said. She also said she could not see what caused the fight or who the people were because she was serving customers inside the restaurant area of the business.
After the murder, police said their entire investigation unit was put on the case.
