SAN DIEGO–An inmate serving time for an unrelated crime has been charged with the 2007 murder of a man in Spring Valley.

On June 13, homicide detectives re-booked 42 year-old Marlin Royal on a single count of murder. At the time of his booking, Royal was in state prison serving a 40 year sentence for robbery and kidnapping, which occurred in Los Angeles County.

On May 7, 2007, the Sheriff’s Communications Center received a 911 call regarding an unresponsive male lying on the side of the road in the 2300 block of Millar Ranch Road in Spring Valley.

Deputies found 29 year-old Idris “Rashad” Jones deceased from a gunshot wound to the upper body. Sheriff’s homicide detectives were called to the scene and assumed the investigation. The Medical Examiner’s Office conducted an autopsy and ruled Jones’ death a homicide.

In the intervening years between 2007 and 2016, investigators from the Sheriff’s homicide cold case team and the District Attorney’s Office worked diligently on all leads in order to solve the murder case.