Police have made an arrest in connection with the murder of a young woman that occurred nearly 50 years ago — and investigators were tipped off about a suspect in the cold case because of a pack of cigarettes.
On Feb. 1, 1977, police discovered the body of 24-year-old Jeanette Ralston wedged tightly in the back seat of her Volkswagen Beetle in the carport area of an apartment complex in San Jose, California.
‘Cases may grow old and be forgotten by the public. We don’t forget, and we don’t give up.’
Ralston was last seen leaving the Lion’s Den bar in San Jose with a man just before midnight the night before.
“Jeanette was at a bar with two of her friends, and they were just dancing and hanging out and having a fun night out, and she ran into the man who killed her,” Santa Clara Deputy District Attorney Rob Baker told Fox News this week.
At the time, the medical examiner concluded that her cause of death was strangulation from a long-sleeve dress shirt tied around her neck. The autopsy allegedly showed evidence of sexual assault.
The killer reportedly tried to set the Volkswagen ablaze, but it did not catch fire.
Law enforcement could not identify a suspect at the time, and the murder case went cold for decades.
But last August, investigators managed a major breakthrough in the cold case — thanks to a pack of cigarettes.
Willie Eugene Sims — now a 69-year-old from Jefferson, Ohio — was named as the suspect in Ralston’s 1977 murder.
The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement, “Sims — an army private assigned to Fort Ord at the time — was convicted in 1978 for an assault to commit murder in Monterey County. Sims moved out of state before his DNA could be entered into CODIS, the state’s DNA database.”
Investigators found Sims’ fingerprints on one of Ralston’s cigarette packs.
‘I am hopeful with Mr. Sims’ arrest, the family can hold on to hope that justice will be served and, although several years later, they can finally bring some closure to their loss.’
Earlier this year, investigators with the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office’s Bureau of Investigation and the San Jose Police Department traveled to Ohio to collect a DNA sample from Sims with the assistance of Ashtabula County authorities.
Weeks ago, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office’s Crime Lab reportedly found DNA consistent with Sims on Ralston’s fingernails and the shirt used to strangle her.
“This is a case that’s been haunting all the cold-case prosecutors for literally since 2011, when [our] Cold Case Unit was established,” Baker explained. “About a year ago, we decided, ‘Hey, let’s have the fingerprints in this case checked again.’ We caught a break last summer when we sent the fingerprints out, and we got a hit, which led us to the front door of Mr. Sims’ home in Ohio.”
The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office has charged Sims with the murder of Ralston. If convicted, Sims faces a prison sentence of 25 years to life.
Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen stated, “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.”
“Our guiding principle at the Cold Case Unit here in Santa Clara County is we never forget. We never forget the victims. We never forget the family of those victims, and we never forget the loved ones of those victims,” Baker declared. “And we’re always going to seek justice, whether it takes 10 years, 20 years, or 50 years.”
Baker added, “I talked to Jeanette’s son. He was 6 years old when she died, and he was very appreciative of the work we did and the work that we had done in the case.”
Ashtabula County Prosecutor April Grabman stated, “I am hopeful with Mr. Sims’ arrest, the family can hold on to hope that justice will be served and, although several years later, they can finally bring some closure to their loss.”
Sims is awaiting extradition to California.
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