Man arrested for murder almost 50 years ago thanks to one item
Police think they may have solved a murder that was committed back in the 1970s, thanks to new advances in forensic technology.
On 31 January 1977, Jeanette Ralston, 24, was at the Lion's Den Bar in San Jose, California. When she left, her friends said they saw her with a man they didn't recognise.
Tragically, the next day, her body was discovered in the back of her Volkswagen Beetle parked around a five-minute drive away.
Jeanette's body was found by a woman who lived in an apartment nearby. She had looked inside the vehicle and found the woman's body, with her shirt dress tied around her neck.
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According to the autopsy, Jeanette had been sexually assaulted before her death (via CBS News). Meanwhile, although the culprit allegedly tried to set the car on fire, it had failed to burn.
Police never found Jeanette's killer, until 50 years later when prosecutors from the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office revealed they had made an arrest in connection with her death.
After five decades, new advances in forensic technology meant police were able to find fresh evidence, including a fingerprint on Jeanette's cigarette pack and potential DNA on her nails and blouse.
Last August, they made a match to a man named Willie Eugene Sims.
"Using DNA and fingerprints on a pack of Eve cigarettes, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office has charged a 69-year-old Ohio man with the murder of a woman he met in a San Jose bar almost half a century ago," the statement explained.
"Willie Eugene Sims is accused of strangling Jeanette Ralston to death with a long-sleeve shirt on February 1, 1977. Friends of Ralston said they last saw her alive when she left the Lion’s Den Bar at 1500 Almaden Road in San Jose with an unknown man just before midnight on January 31, 1977."
District Attorney Jeff Rosen said: “Every day, forensic science grows better, and every day criminals are closer to being caught.
"Cases may grow old and be forgotten by the public. We don’t forget and we don’t give up.”
Sims – who was an army private assigned to Fort Ord at the time – was convicted in 1978 for an assault to commit murder in a separate case.
However, he moved away before his DNA could be entered into the state's database.
"DA’s Bureau of Investigation and San Jose Police Department investigators traveled to Ohio to collect a DNA sample from Sims with the assistance of Ashtabula County authorities," the statement continued.
"Weeks ago, the DA’s Crime Lab found DNA consistent with Sims on Ralston’s fingernails and the shirt used to strangle her."
Sims is being held without bail and his next court date is 12 August.
According to the district attorney's office, Sims could face a sentence of 25 years to life in prison, CBS News reports.
Lucy Devine