Convicted Fresno killer sentenced 38 years to the day after woman's body found

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A convicted Fresno killer is now heading to prison 38 years to the day after investigators found Jacqueline Denise Henry in a field.

"She was a beautiful person," Jean Whittle said about her sister.

Henry was 22 when Carl Eugene Sears abducted her and then stabbed her to death.

"Nobody had the right to kill her, to murder her," Whittle said.

Sears, who is now 73, will spend 11 years in prison.

He has never admitted guilt and, for years, denied the murder charge against him. Six weeks ago, as the case was heading to trial, Sears entered a no-contest plea to voluntary manslaughter, agreeing not to fight the case any longer.

"He knows he's guilty," Whittle said. "He knows he's guilty. They found evidence that we didn't know they had because back when she was killed. They were telling us they didn't have anything to go on."

Video from the Action News archives shows investigators collecting evidence. They combed through the field at the corner of Church and Fig Avenues.

The case and the evidence sat cold for decades until advancements in DNA technology led investigators to Sears in 2022.

He was already a convicted sex offender.

"When they told me they found the murderer, it was her 50th birthday when they came to tell me that," Whittle said.

Henry's son was a young child when she died. Now an adult, he looked right at his mom's killer in court on Monday.

The family says they never lost hope.

"I thank God that we were able to see that justice - I don't even know if it's justice - that he was caught," Whittle said.

Court records show Sears will soon head to the Wasco State Prison.

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