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A suspected serial murderer has been taken into custody for three cold cases in California dating back almost 50 years. Warren Luther Alexander, 73, of Mississippi, was accused of strangling and murdering three women in Ventura County, California, in 1977.
The 40-year-old cold case was solved using DNA evidence and teamwork from law enforcement agencies in several states. Alexander is accused of murdering Kimberly Carol Fritz, 18, Velvet Ann Sanchez, 31, and Lorraine Ann Rodriguez, 21, within eight months in 1977.
As per the Ventura County Sheriff's Office, the victims were discovered strangled and left in different spots across the county. Fritz was killed on May 29, Sanchez on September 8, and Rodriguez on December 27. Alexander would have been 26 years old at the time of these crimes.
The breakthrough in the case came after Alexander's arrest in Diamondhead, Mississippi, in 2022. He was initially charged with the 1992 murder of Nona Stamey Cobb in North Carolina. Cobb's body was discovered near Interstate 77 in Surry County.
The Winston-Salem Journal reported that witnesses last saw Cobb entering a truck with an unknown man at a Cleveland County rest area in July 1992. Vickie Gregory, Cobb's sister, spoke about her struggles with substance issues. She told the newspaper, "She loved us, and we loved her. Just because you do something wrong does not mean you stop loving her."
While Alexander was in custody for Cobb's murder, investigators linked him to the California cold cases. The Ventura County Sheriff's Office Cold Case team decided to reexamine the 1977 murder cases, ultimately working together with authorities from North Carolina.
The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and the Surry County Sheriff's Office utilized DNA samples to identify Alexander as the suspect in the California murders. This scientific evidence proved crucial in connecting the decades-old crimes across state lines.
Alexander was extradited from Surry County to California to face charges for the three 1977 murders. He is currently being held without bail in Ventura County Jail, with his arraignment scheduled for August 21.
