DA: DNA match solves woman’s 1977 strangling near San Jose bar
SAN JOSE Cold-case investigators used a fingerprint from a pack of cigarettes and a DNA match to implicate an Ohio man in the strangling of a Peninsula woman near a San Jose bar nearly five decades ago according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney s Office Willie Eugene Sims is expected to be extradited from Ashtabula County located about miles east of Cleveland to the Bay Area to face charges in the killing of -year-old San Mateo resident Jeanette Ralston He was scheduled for arraignment in Ohio on Tuesday the same day the DA s office informed Sims arrest Ralston was last seen alive just before midnight on Jan leaving with an unidentified man from the Lion s Den Bar on Almaden Road The next day her body was uncovered wedged in in the back seat of her Volkswagen Beetle which was in a carport in an apartment complex near the bar officials mentioned Left booking photo of William Sims Right SJPD sketch of the suspect in the Ralston murder Courtesy of the Santa Clara County DA s office An autopsy determined that Ralston had been strangled with a long-sleeved dress shirt and that there were signs that she had been sexually assaulted The crime scene also revealed evidence that someone had unsuccessfully tried to set fire to her car The killing became a cold incident until the DA s Cold Incident Unit and San Jose homicide detectives revisited the assessment executives announced Last August they examined a fingerprint taken from a pack of Ralston s cigarettes and matched it to Sims Related Articles Human remains identified on Bay Area shoreline years ago have been identified Further proceedings ordered for man charged in kidnapping and killing of a Bay Area boy Body unveiled in Northern California canal in identified as man with East Bay ties San Jose cold-case research links baseball bat killing to deceased man July trial set for Bay Area man accused of killing missing wife on Valentine s Day Sims moved out of California decades ago after he was convicted in of assault to commit murder in Monterey County where he been stationed at Ford Ord as an Army private His DNA was not submitted into a state database before he left the state Following the published fingerprint match DA and SJPD investigators went to Ohio where while working with law enforcement in Ashtabula County they obtained a DNA sample from Sims Earlier this year an analysis matched Sims to DNA recovered from Ralston s fingernails and the shirt used to strangle her personnel declared Every day forensic science grows better and every day criminals are closer to being caught District Attorney Jeff Rosen reported in a message Cases may grow old and be forgotten by the constituents We don t forget and we don t give up If convicted of the murder charge he faces in Santa Clara County Sims faces up to years to life in prison Anyone with information about the cold situation can contact the DA s office at at - - or by email at coldcasetips dao sccgov org
