UPDATE: Police Identify Suspect in Montebello Drive Murder from 2010

After almost two years of investigation, Gilroy detectives have identified Russell Edward Garcia as the suspect in the beating of two men and homicide of Marcelino Cardenas. The men were reportedly beaten with a baseball bat on the 1000 block of Montebello Drive in 2010.

Police had responded to a disturbance call on April 13, and found Cardenas, 75, and a 40-year-old man badly beaten inside a Montebello Drive home at around 11 p.m., according to Sgt. Chad Gallacinao of the Gilroy Police Department.

Cardenas was reportedly found lying on a couch in the living room with severe head injuries, while the other man was found lying in the kitchen with major injuries to his legs.

Police determined that the men had been beaten with a baseball bat, and transported them to Bay Area hospitals. Cardenas died about two weeks later on April 25.

Detectives exhausted all leads in the summer of 2011, but developed new ones in July that lead them to 31-year-old Garcia, Sgt. Gallacinao said.

"There was a lack of information, a lack of investigative leads to follow-up on to investigate a suspect. The case did become cold during a period of time," Gallacinao said. "We actively investigated leads as they came in, one of the last leads that we received in July of 2010 was specific enough for us to identify Mr. Garcia as the suspect in the crime."

Gallacinao said he couldn't release specifics about the last lead detectives received because he didn't want to comprise the case.

"As of right now the case has been filed with the District Attorney’s Office. All I can verify is that we received additional investigative leads in the summer of 2011," he said.

The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office filed charges of murder and assault with a deadly weapon against Garcia on Jan. 25, and he is currently scheduled to be arraigned on Friday, Jan. 27.

Garcia has been serving time at Santa Clara County Jail since around May of 2010 for unrelated charges.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Gilroy Detective Michael Bolton at (408) 846-0350. Anonymous tips can be left by calling We-Tip at 1-800-782-7463 (800-78-Crime).

This article was updated at 2 p.m.