George R. “Smitty” Smith & Eva Thompson
Jury Convicts Former Employee, 86, of 1991 Double Murders at The Smith’s Restaurant in Prunedale
Some may remember the heart wrenching unsolved homicides of George R. “Smitty” Smith and Eva Thompson. CAH featured their story (written by Granddaughter, JoAnn Holland) in our June 2003 newsletter and then updated in our October 2024 newsletter.
On August 27, Monterey County District Attorney Jeannine M. Pacioni announced that a jury convicted Ira Ulyesses Bastian, age 86 of two counts of first-degree murder for killing George Smith and Eva Thompson at The Smith’s restaurant in Prunedale on November 11, 1991. The jury found true special- circumstance allegations that Bastian murdered Mr. Smith and Ms. Thompson during the commission of a burglary and that he committed multiple murders in the first degree. Bastian, then age 52, was a former employee of The Smith’s restaurant and will be sentenced on September 24, 2025. He faces a prison sentence of life without the possibility of parole.
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