85-year-old man arrested in 1991 cold case of slain Monterey County restaurant co-owner

SALINAS – The Monterey County District Attorney’s Office announced that charges were brought against an elderly Fresno man for murders that occurred in the 1990s.

Ira Bastian, 85, was arrested without incident July 15, and charged with the cold-case murders of George Smith, 67, and his mother-in-law Eva Thompson, 79.

Back in 1991, Smith and his wife owned and lived at Smith’s Restaurant, which was located on Ellis Camino Real in Prunedale.

On Nov. 11, 1991, Anna Smith returned...