Suspect ID’ed in ‘92 killing of Fil-Am student in Berkeley

Grace Asuncion was 20 years old when she was stabbed to death in 1992 inside a UC Berkeley building.

BERKELEY, California — A suspect has been identified in the cold case stabbing death of a Filipino American student in 1992, the University of California Police announced.

Grace Asuncion, 20, a junior premed student was killed on February 7, 1992 while she was working in the Eshleman Hall offices of the Pilipino American Alliance on campus.

A custodian found her body, which bore several stab wounds in the neck. She had not been robbed or sexually abused.

Police identified John Iwed, an Alameda resident, as the killer in the cold case. Iwed, 24, died of a drug overdose less than a year after Asuncion’s death. He had been a suspect but police had ruled him out after interviewing him.

Asuncion’s killing touched off protests over a lack of security in Eshleman Hall, which housed offices for student government and other groups.

Soon after the killing Iwed apparently confessed the deed to his wife, according to a lawyer for Asuncion’s family, and admitted that he was high on drugs when he went into Eshleman Hall.

Police said they tagged Iwed as the killer after they re-interviewed witnesses. A UC spokesperson also said the Alameda County district attorney’s office had reviewed the new information and concluded that Iwed, if he were alive, would have been charged in the homicide.

The university reached a $750,000 settlement in the wrongful-death lawsuit by Asuncion’s family.