Christopher Creek pleaded not guilty after cold case investigators linked him to Diane Ayres’ death.
SAN DIEGO, Calif. — A 52-year-old Georgia man has been extradited to San Diego to face a murder charge in the 1999 strangulation of Diane Ayres, whose body was found near a Balboa Park golf course.
Christopher Creek pleaded not guilty after police said renewed forensic testing helped identify him as the suspect. Ayres, 23, was found Sept. 4, 1999, in bushes along the 1800 block of Golf Course Drive. Prosecutors said the case now moves from a decades-old cold case into court.
Golfers found Ayres’ body and called police. The San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office later determined she had been strangled. Police said Ayres had left the apartment she shared with her mother for the evening and did not return. Deputy District Attorney Chris Lindberg said DNA use was still new in criminal cases in the 1990s, and investigators needed a fresh look at older evidence.
San Diego police said cold case detectives reexamined forensic evidence from the original investigation. The department worked with the FBI and the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office. Creek was found at Dodge State Prison in Chester, Georgia, where he was serving time in an unrelated case. He was arrested June 16 on a San Diego homicide warrant by the Laurens County Sheriff’s Department.
Creek was transferred to the Laurens County Jail before being extradited June 23 to San Diego, where he was booked into Central Jail. Court documents cited by prosecutors describe a long criminal history in several states, including California, Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, Nevada, Mississippi, North Carolina and Virginia. Prosecutors said the prior cases included theft, burglary, forgery, possession of stolen property and reckless exposure.
Ayres’ mother, Carole Wolinski, said she remembered her daughter leaving home before she disappeared. “I can remember her walking out of the apartment. I told her to be careful,” Wolinski said. She said she did not know Creek and had never heard his name before the arrest. Wolinski described her daughter as intelligent, caring and close to her family.
Lindberg said the filing does not end the case. “This is merely the start,” he said. Creek faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted. He is being held without bond pending a readiness hearing scheduled for July 6.
Author note: Last updated 2026-06-27.