Decades-Old Cold Case Cracked: 73-year-old Mississippi Man Charged in Strangulation of Three SoCal Women

An elderly man, aged 73, has been accused of the murder of three women in Southern California back in 1977. Cold case investigators recently discovered a DNA match, leading to the charges. Authorities suspect that there may be additional victims involved.

A court appearance was made by Warren Luther Alexander of Diamondhead, Mississippi, on Thursday. However, the arraignment on three counts of first-degree murder has been postponed to Aug. 21, as confirmed by the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office. He was held in custody without the possibility of release.

Alexander’s case has been assigned to the county public defender’s office. An inquiry was made at the office for a response regarding the case.

Alexander was transported to California on Aug. 6 from Surry County, North Carolina, where he is currently facing charges for a 1992 cold case murder, according to the office.

According to District Attorney Erik Nasarenko, all the victims in California were tragically killed by “ligature strangulations,” as he announced during a news conference. All of them were sex workers in Ventura County, located northwest of Los Angeles, and they often visited an area notorious for sex trafficking, according to his statement.

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“While believing these three crimes were indeed connected, leads ran cold and detectives were unable to identify who was responsible for these horrific murders,” Nasarenko said.

Through investigative genealogy, Alexander has been identified as a suspect in the case of 29-year-old Nona Cobb in North Carolina. Her body was discovered along Interstate 77.

Tragically, Kimberly Fritz, who was only 18 years old, was discovered deceased in the city of Port Hueneme on May 29, 1977. Velvet Sanchez, aged 31, was discovered deceased on September 8th of that year in the city of Oxnard. This was followed by the unfortunate passing of Lorraine Rodriguez, aged 21, on December 27th in an unincorporated area.

Last year, the district attorney announced that a DNA match to Alexander was found after DNA evidence was uploaded into a national database.

“We believe there may be additional victims both locally and other states,” he said. “This is an ongoing investigation, and we will continue to pursue all leads that become available. This is not in any way closed.”

Source: Mercury News