Cold Case: Diane Marie Ayres
Solved
If you have a tip, call the SDPD Homicide Unit at 619-531-2293. For anonymous tips, call Crimestoppers at 888-580-8477 or submit your tip online.
CASE DATE: September 4, 1999
LOCATION:
1800 block of Golf Course Drive
SYNOPSIS:
UPDATED - June 25, 2026
Detectives with the San Diego Police Department’s Cold Case Unit have arrested a suspect on June 16, 2026 in connection with the 1999 murder of Diane Ayres in Balboa Park.
Over the years, cold case investigators reexamined forensic evidence collected during the original investigation. Those efforts ultimately led to the identification of the suspect, Christopher Creek.
The San Diego Police Department worked closely with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office throughout the investigation.
Creek, 52, was found at Dodge State Prison in Chester, Georgia, serving a sentence for an unrelated offense.
On June 16, 2026, he was arrested on a San Diego homicide warrant by the Laurens County Sheriff’s Department and transferred into the Laurens County Jail.
On June 23, 2026, Creek was extradited to San Diego and booked into Central Jail.
San Diego Police Homicide detectives have identified the female found in the 1800 block of Golf Course Drive last September 4, 1999.
The female was discovered nude in a remote section of Golf Course Drive. She had been strangled and apparently dumped at this location.
The female is Diane Marie Ayres, W/F, 23 years. Ms. Ayres resided with her mother at 3036 Hawthorn Street, #14.
Diane Ayres left her apartment one day in early September to "go out for the evening" and did not return. Anyone with information on Ms. Ayres is encouraged to contact the San Diego Police Department Homicide Section, Team I at 531-2427 or the Crime Stoppers Hot Line at 235-TIPS.