San Diego police say forensic evidence led detectives to Christopher Creek after nearly 27 years.
SAN DIEGO, Calif. — San Diego police say a long-running cold case investigation has led to the arrest of Christopher Creek in the 1999 killing of Diane Ayres near Balboa Park’s golf course.
The arrest brings new court action in a case that began when golfers found Ayres dead in bushes on Golf Course Drive. She was 23 and lived in San Diego. Authorities said the medical examiner ruled her death a strangulation, and investigators kept reviewing evidence collected at the scene.
Police said the case changed after cold case detectives reexamined forensic material from the original investigation. The work led them to Creek, who was in custody at Dodge State Prison in Chester, Georgia, for an unrelated offense. The Laurens County Sheriff’s Department arrested him June 16 on a San Diego homicide warrant, and he was later transferred for extradition.
Creek arrived in San Diego on June 23 and was booked into Central Jail. He appeared in court and pleaded not guilty to murder. Prosecutors said more recent evidence testing connected Creek to Ayres. They did not say publicly how Creek and Ayres may have met, and that part of the case remains unclear.
Deputy District Attorney Chris Lindberg said the delay reflected the limits of older investigations and the number of unsolved homicides in the county. He said DNA was only beginning to be used in criminal cases in the 1990s. “Sometimes it just takes a fresh look,” Lindberg said.
Ayres’ mother, Carole Wolinski, said her daughter had left their apartment to go out and never came home. Wolinski said the years without an arrest left her replaying that night. “It’s amazing what goes through your mind,” she said. She described Ayres as close to her family and said she wanted to live her life.
Creek faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted. He remains jailed without bond. The next scheduled step is a readiness hearing July 6, when the court is expected to set the case on a path toward later proceedings.
Author note: Last updated 2026-06-27.