A “suspected serial killer” from Mississippi was charged in connection to the cold-case 1977 strangulations of three girls in Southern California — and authorities imagine there could also be extra victims, prosecutors introduced on Thursday.
Warren Luther Alexander, 73, was charged with three counts of homicide in Ventura County after he was extradited from North Carolina on Tuesday, the place he’s additionally awaiting prosecution for a separate 1992 chilly case homicide dedicated in Surry County.
His three victims in California — Kimberly Carol Fritz, 18; Velvet Ann Sanchez, 31; and Ann Rodriguez, 21 — have been all intercourse staff who have been killed by “ligature strangulations,” District Legal professional Erik Nasarenko informed reporters.
Fritz was discovered lifeless within the metropolis of Port Hueneme on Could 29, 1977. Sanchez’s physique was positioned on Sept. 8 within the metropolis of Oxnard whereas Rodriguez’s was found on Dec. 27 in an unincorporated space.
All three frequented an space north of Los Angeles identified for prostitution.
“Whereas believing these three crimes have been certainly related, leads ran chilly and detectives have been unable to establish who was answerable for these horrific murders,” Nasarenko mentioned.
The Ventura County Sheriff’s Chilly Case Unit reopened the case final February and matched DNA proof discovered at every scene with proof uploaded to a nationwide database, the district lawyer mentioned.
“Simply because a case has gone chilly, doesn’t imply it ought to ever be forgotten,” Nasarenko added..
Investigative family tree had recognized Alexander as a suspect within the North Carolina loss of life of 29-year-old Nona Cobb, who was additionally strangled and dumped alongside Interstate 77, the DA mentioned.
Alexander was arrested for the Cobb slaying in March 2022, in accordance with North Carolina media experiences. That case has not but gone to trial.
The accused killer grew up in Oxnard, Ventura County, within the late Nineteen Fifties and ’60s, the place he attended elementary, center and excessive colleges. He returned to the town within the Nineteen Seventies, Nasarenko mentioned.
From the Nineteen Seventies into the early Nineteen Nineties Alexander was a long-haul, cross-country truck driver, Nasarenko mentioned.
Authorities imagine he might have killed others.
“We imagine there could also be extra victims each domestically and different states,” he mentioned. “That is an ongoing investigation, and we’ll proceed to pursue all leads that turn out to be obtainable.
“This isn’t in any approach closed.”
Alexander made his first look in Ventura County Superior Court docket on Thursday morning and can be arraigned on Aug. 21.
He’s being held in Ventura County Jail with out bail.
With Submit wires
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