San Jose, California – Almost half a century after a young woman from California was strangled to death, the authorities say that a digital footprint in a cardboard of cigarettes has led to an arrest.
Willie Eugene Sims was arrested in Jefferson, Ohio, in relation to the death of Jeanette Ralston, according to a statement on Friday of the Office of the District Prosecutor of Santa Clara County.
Sims, 69, was accused of murder and was prosecuted on Friday at the Ashtabula County Court before being sent to California.
Ralston was found dead in the back seat of his Volkswagen Beetle on February 1, 1977 in San José, according to the Santa Clara County District Prosecutor’s Office. His body was found in the garage area of an apartment complex near the bar where friends say it was last seen.
She had been strangled with a long -sleeved dress shirt, and the evidence seemed to show that she was sexually assaulted, according to prosecutors. His car showed signs of having been burned without success.
Her friends said at that time that they saw her get out of the bar with an unknown man the night before, saying that she would return in 10 minutes, but never returned. Police interviewed friends and other witnesses and created a suspicious sketch. But the investigation cooled.
It was discovered that a digital footprint was found in the Ralston cigarette cardboard in its car that coincided with Sims the past fall after the police had asked to execute the impression through the updated FBI system, prosecutors said.
Earlier this year, the officials of the Office of the District Prosecutor and the San José Police went to Ohio to collect the Sims DNA. Prosecutors say it coincided with the DNA found on Ralston’s nails and the shirt used to strangle it.
“Every day, forensic science grows better, and every day criminals are closer to being trapped,” said district prosecutor Jeff Rosen in a statement. “Cases can age and be forgotten by the public. We do not forget it and we do not give up.”
William Weigel, Supervisor of the Homicide team for the Public Defender’s Office of Santa Clara Count, confirmed on Monday that Lara Wallman had been assigned the case. He said that his office cannot comment on the evidence yet because they have not seen it, but warned the public to jump to conclusions.
“It is important that we let the system run out and allow our side to carry out our own revision and investigation independent of the case before we rush to judge so to speak,” he said.
In 1977, Sims was a private army assigned to an installation about 68 miles (109 kilometers) south of San José, prosecutors said.
The year after Ralston’s death, a jury in a separate case condemned Sims of an assault to commit a murder in Monterey County and sentenced him to four years in prison, as shown in the judicial records.
Ralston’s son, Allen Ralston, was 6 years old when he died. He He told Woio-Tv That he is grateful and relieved finally an arrest was made.
“I’m glad someone cares,” he said about the case.
