Arrest Made In 1975 Massage Parlor Slaying

SAN DIEGO — Authorities announced an arrest Friday in connection with a 1975 killing at a massage parlor in a then-seedy downtown area now known as the Gaslamp Quarter.

San Diego police detectives traveled to Parchman, Miss., on Thursday to take custody of 57-year-old Leon Johnson, who had been arrested on a warrant charging him with murdering 27-year-old Luz Borrayo in 1975, San Diego Police Department Lt. Ernie Herbert said.

Borrayo’s body was found inside the Twilight Massage Parlor on Nov. 22, 1975 in the 600 block of Fifth Avenue. The victim had been beaten and strangled.

Two years ago, investigators with the SDPD Cold Case Team reopened the case and resubmitted “viable evidentiary items” to the department’s crime lab for renewed analysis. Those reviews resulted in the identification of Johnson as Borrayo’s suspected killer, according to Herbert.

Herbert declined to disclose the type of evidence that allegedly implicated the suspect.

Johnson is being held in county jail in downtown San Diego pending an arraignment scheduled for Monday afternoon.