In 1985 a homicide occurred in the Buena Clinton Neighborhood as a result of a drug deal gone bad.  Two men went to the area to purchase drugs and one of them was fatally stabbed during the transaction.  Initially two arrests were made in connection with the murder, but charges were never filed because the witnesses to the crime were deemed unreliable.

In 2014, the Garden Grove Police Department received a tip regarding the 1985 murder, and Detective Mike Farley was in charge of reopening the case.  Mike re-examined the evidence and made efforts to re-contact witnesses, many of whom were now deceased. Mike noticed that some of the DNA evidence was never processed, and needed to be sent to the Crime Lab. Eventually the results of the DNA evidence were returned and to Mike's surprise the DNA hit came back to one of the original suspects from 1985.

The suspect was eventually located by the Department's Career Criminal Apprehension Team, and the real work of resurrecting a 30 year homicide case began.  Detective Farley worked closely with the OC District Attorney's and the Santa Ana Police Department to place a wiretap on the suspect's phone.  The process was time consuming and took a tremendous amount of teamwork and man hours to reconstruct this case.  Mike coordinated 24 hour surveillances utilizing the Department's Career Criminal Apprehension Unit, Special Investigations Unit, Gang Unit and Youth Services Units.  He was responsible for the overall operations, and did a great job organizing Officers and maintaining professional relationships within the District Attorney's Office.  The efforts Detective Farley exhibited were exceptional, despite trying to present a 30 year homicide case for prosecution to the District Attorney's office.

Fortunately, Mike's coordination of Department resources paid off for the victim's family.  The suspect is now in custody for the murder, and is awaiting trial for a homicide that occurred 30 years ago.  Although Mike will tell you that solving this case was a joint effort by all involved, the reality is that his leadership, organization, and determination to see this case through was the catalyst for its success.  This is why Detective Mike Farley is deserving of the Garden Grove Police Department's Medal of Merit.