1977 serial killer convicted in Ventura County
After years of families being left in the dark regarding the cold cases of their daughters, mothers and sisters, justice may be served. Warren Luther Alexander, an ex-truck driver, has recently been linked to three murders that occurred in 1977.
Following decades of scientific research, advanced DNA technology was able to link Alexander to the killings in California and North Carolina. He is currently awaiting prosecution while being held in the Ventura County Jail without the possibility of bail. However, the Ventura County district attorney stated in an interview with the “Los Angeles Times” that this is an ongoing investigation and there may be additional victims, both locally and in other states.
Alexander has recently been accused of killing Kimberly Carol Fritz, Lorraine Ann Rodriguez and Velvet Ann Sanchez, who were all murdered with similar methods of operation. All of the women Alexander allegedly targeted were sex workers and their deceased bodies were displayed in identical ways. Evidence shows that these women were all strangled with their own undergarments.
After moving to California right after school, 18-year-old Fritzs’ body was found in a motel located in Port Hueneme on May 29, 1977. Sanchez was a mother, as well as a U.S. Navy Exchange veteran. Similar to Fritz, she was also located in a motel in Oxnard on Sept. 9, 1977. Shortly after, Rodriguez’s body was found on Laguna Road. For all three cases, the cause of death was determined to be strangulation. After decades of persistence of these cold cases, 2023 brought a breakthrough for these crimes, and closure for these families.
A year before these discoveries, Alexander was charged in North Carolina with a murder from 1992. Nona Cobb, a 29-year-old victim who was found abandoned along Interstate 77 after being strangled in the same manner. While the murders were being reexamined, DNA databases were able to provide an exact match. The murder of Cassandra Lee Miller was also discovered by authorities to have a similar method of murder.
Alexander shows signs of having similar modus operandi or modes of operation. The arrangement of these events has not been identified, but there is evidence that the women targeted were picked up for commercial sex. All three women were allegedly known for frequenting the Plaza Marina Shopping Center in Oxnard.
Up to this point, Alexander has been accused of first-degree murder on three accounts and is facing arraignment at the end of the month. He is pleading not guilty and has denied all allegations. He had made appearances at the Ventura County Superior Court and the district attorney has stated that they will not be seeking a death penalty for this case, claiming that it would draw out more time, it was instead decided that Alexander would seek life in prison without the possibility of parole.
