14 DAY TRIAL // Police have found the remains of a woman reported missing on August 4 in Northern California. The body was found last week and it has been identified as that of Sandra Coke of Oakland.
Coke was an interviewer and investigator working with prisoners on death row. The Alameda County Coroner's office has confirmed her identity after performing an autopsy.
ABC News describes that the woman has been working with the California Appellate Project, the San Francisco Public Defender's Office and the Equal Justice Initiative of Alabama for over two decades.
Her body was found near a Vacaville park and police have a person of interest in the case – 56-year-old Randy Alana, previously convicted of rape.
"And we know that person over 20 years ago dated Sandra Coke very briefly and that he reappeared in the Bay Area rather recently and reached out to Sandra for help," Dan Abrahamson, a family friend said in a press conference.
Coke was last seen on Sunday at around 7 p.m., when she left for the drugstore and to inquire about her missing dog.
The pooch had vanished in May and her family believe that she has received a call about recovering it on the night of her disappearance.
"She left the house to go to the drugstore on her daughter's behalf and hours later, when she didn't come back, her daughter called me frightened," explains the victim's best friend, Wendy Springer.
"There's no question something had happened. There's no way she would have ever left her daughter there alone," Springer tells KGO.
Alana has been detained in Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, California. He is being held without bail until his arraignment on August 16.
"The Coke family is devastated by the loss of our beloved Sandra. [...] She was a loving mother, daughter, sister and auntie, and a shining light in our family; her good cheer, easy laugh and generous hugs will be missed," the family said in a statement.