Man charged in 1970s California triple murder cold case after DNA match

A 73-year-old man has been charged in the strangulation deaths of three southern California women in 1977, after cold case detectives obtained a DNA match. Authorities said they believe there could be more victims.

Alexander is suspected in the murder of three women in California in 1977. Kimberly Fritz, 18, was found dead in a motel room the city of Port Hueneme on 29 May 1977. Velvet Sanchez, 31, was found dead in the Villa Motor Court on 8 September of that year in nearby Oxnard. Lorraine Rodriguez, 21, was found on 27 December 1977 on a bridge in an unincorporated area.

Investigative genealogy had identified Alexander as a suspect in the 1992 killing of 29-year-old Nona Cobb, whose body was left along Interstate 77 in North Carolina.

Alexander lived in Oxnard in the late 1950s and 60s, attending elementary, middle and high schools, and returned in the 1970s, Nasarenko said.

From the 1970s into the early 1990s, he was a long-haul, cross-country truck driver, leading authorities to believe there may be additional victims locally and in other states.