This week People Magazine Investigates examines the brutal killing of wealthy couple Andra and Brad Sach and the attempted murder of two of their children.
San Juan Capistrano, California on February 9, 2014, in the early hours of the morning and Andra and Brad Sachs are shot dead in their own bed, with their young son gravely injured in the attack and their 17-year-old daughter managing to escape.
Andra had a real estate business worth tens of millions and Brad was a former surf champ, though he’d recently been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. They had plenty of enemies from business but police wondered if anyone hated them enough to have invaded their home, stolen nothing and shot them multiple times in the face. Their 8-year-old son suffered a spinal injury that left him paralysed and their daughter only escaped by hiding.
The execution-style nature of the crime shocked the entire neighborhood and detectives mounted an urgent investigation, though there was little progress until around a month had passed. It was then that examination of a neighbor’s CCTV footage showed a car that would eventually point towards the killer.
The car was soon identified as a white Prius and shockingly police traced it to their 19-year-old son Ashton, also finding a .22 rifle in the trunk that matched the one used to kill his parents.
Ashton eventually confessed and was later sentenced to multiple life terms.
People Magazine Investigates airs on Mondays at 9:00 PM on Investigation Discovery.
James Wray
James has worked for Monsters and Critics since it started back in 2003. He oversees the business and technical side of things. You can contact or follow him on Twitter.