By SDCN Editor
El Cajon, CA–An arrest has been made in a 2003 shooting that killed two people in the unincorporated area of El Cajon.
On April 13 just after 7 p.m., agents from the San Diego Regional Fugitive Task Force arrested 45-year-old Michael Romero near his house in National City. Romero was booked into the San Diego Central Jail for two counts of murder. Sheriff’s Homicide Detectives notified the families of Vigil and Greene regarding the arrest.
The crime happened on January 21, 2003 just before 6 a.m. in the 2100 block of Willow Glen Drive. Deputies with the Lemon Grove Sheriff’s Substation responded to a report of gunshots in the area. They found two men lying on the side of the road with gunshot wounds. Despite life-saving efforts, the victims did not survive their injuries.
The County Medical Examiner’s Office conducted an autopsy and identified the victims as 17-year-old Christopher Brandon Vigil and 30-year-old Patrick John Greene. The cause of death for Vigil and Greene was gunshot wounds, and the manner of their deaths was a homicide.
The Sheriff’s Homicide Cold Case Team kept working on the case and in March of 2022 developed new evidence pointing to Romero. Once the investigation focused on Romero, detectives established probable cause to arrest him for the murders of Vigil and Greene.
The investigation into the murders of Vigil and Greene is ongoing. The circumstances and motivations of this case are still under investigation. The criminal case has been submitted to the San Diego District Attorney’s Office for review.
