Press Release: Subject Found Guilty of Two Counts of First-Degree Murder in 1991 Cold Case Homicide
DATE/TIME: 08/27/25 at 3:35 PM
TYPE OF INCIDENT: Subject Found Guilty of Two Counts of First-Degree Murder in 1991 Cold Case Homicide
LOCATION: Salinas, California
MEDIA CONTACT: Andres Rosas, Commander; Phone: 831-261-5492; Email: rosasae@countyofmonterey.gov
On August 26th, 2025, a Monterey County Jury convicted 86-year-old Ira Ulyesses Bastian of two counts of first-degree murder related to the double-homicide of George Smith and Eva Thompson who were killed in a Prunedale restaurant on November 11, 1991. The victims were identified as 67-year-old George Smith and his wife’s mother, 79-year-old Eva Thompson. The victims lived at the same site where the restaurant was located.
According to the investigation conducted by the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office, George Smith’s wife had returned home and found that her husband and mother had been murdered. George Smith had been stabbed multiple times. Eva Thompson was located murdered in her bed. She had been beaten and strangled. A knife believed to have been used in the murders was recovered at the scene.
Ira Bastian, who was age 52 at the time of the murders, was identified as a former employee of The Smith’s restaurant. He denied having been at the restaurant for more than one year prior to the murders. Bastian’s girlfriend at the time, provided a pair of shoes that belonged to him to Monterey County Sheriff’s Investigators. Those shoes were found to have left shoe impressions in the backyard area of the restaurant near where the suspect was believed to have made entry into the building. At the time of the initial investigation, Bastian was considered a suspect, but no charges were filed.
Monterey County Sheriff’s Office detectives had been re-submitting items of evidence collected for DNA analysis. Due to advances in DNA testing, results in both 2024 and 2025, provided details that supported Bastian was the contributor to DNA found on the interior of the shoes that had been provided along with the knife handle and clothing worn by Eva Thompson. Bastain was arrested in the city of Fresno on July 15, 2024.
Monterey County Sheriff Tina Nieto stated,
“The persistence and dedication of our Monterey County Sheriff’s investigators, working alongside the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office and the Cold Case Task Force, brought justice to a case that remained unresolved for more than three decades. Their determination ensured that George Smith and Eva Thompson’s families now have closure. After 33 years, this conviction stands as a reminder that we never stop pursuing justice for victims and their loved ones.”
According to the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office, Bastian is scheduled to be sentences on September 24, 2025, and is facing a prison sentence of life without the possibility of parole.