73-year-old ex-trucker faces 3 murder charges in 1977 California strangulations

The suspected killer in three Southern California cold cases from 1977 has been identified as 73-year-old man and investigators believe there may be more victims, Ventura County authorities announced last week.

Warren Luther Alexander, 73, has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of three women in Ventura County, District Attorney Erik Nasarenko told reporters at a Thursday news conference.

"We do believe there are additional victims both locally and in other states," Nasarenko said.

Alexander, a former long-haul truck driver who grew up in Southern California, is accused of strangling Kimberly Carol Fritz, Lorraine Ann Rodriguez and Velvet Ann Sanchez, sex workers who were killed and found across Ventura County 47 years ago.

Alexander was extradited to California from North Carolina where he was being held on separate cold-case murder charges.

Here's what we know.

Murder suspect linked to case by DNA

Fritz was 18 when she died in Port Hueneme May 29, 1977. Sanchez, 31, died in Oxnard Sept. 8, 1977.

Rodriguez, 21, was found dead by sheriff's deputies Dec. 27, 1977. She was discovered in an unincorporated area of the Oxnard Plains near the Laguna Road Bridge, DA's office spokesman Joey Buttitta said.

Evidence shows Alexander picked up all three for commercial sex, Nasarenko said. He added they frequented a shopping center in Oxnard and nearby hotels.

In February 2023, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Cold Case Unit and Oxnard and Port Hueneme police departments began to re-examine the women's murders. DNA evidence had been collected from each crime scene and victim.

Nasarenko credited advances in DNA technology and a match with Alexander's DNA profile through a national database in 2023 as the breakthroughs that led to Alexander's arrest.

Cold case suspect may be linked to fourth victim

Investigators are looking closely at the strangulation death of Cassandra Lee Miller, who was found dead Oct. 1, 1975, at the Surfside Motel in Port Hueneme, according to Narasenko.

"We are continuing to investigate whether that 1975 case is connected with the 1977 murders," Nasarenko said.

As early as February 1978, authorities shared the belief that all four deaths — the three Alexander is charged with and Miller's — had been connected.

"In my opinion, they're all by the same person except the last one," said Dr. Robert Kornblum, the coroner-medical examiner at the time to a Ventura County Star reporter. Referring to Rodriguez, he said some of the evidence in her death was different than the other women's.

The District Attorney's Office, the Ventura County Sheriff's Office and Oxnard and Port Hueneme police departments are working with the FBI "to see where patterns emerge and hopefully solve additional crimes," Nasarenko said.

Murder suspect grew up in area

Alexander grew up in Oxnard in the 1950s and '60s and attended high school through his sophomore year.

"He was a cab driver and electrician with the Marine Corps. He returned to Oxnard in the 1970s," Nasarenko said.

Alexander worked as a long-haul, cross-country truck driver from the 1970s through the early 1990s, the district attorney added.

Alexander lived in Diamondhead, Mississippi before facing murder charges stemming from a 1992 cold case in Surry County, North Carolina that also involved strangulation of a woman, this one left on the side of a highway, Nasarenko said.

What's next in the court proceedings?

The district attorney said he will not seek the death penalty for Alexander because doing so would require more time. Instead, Nasarenko said he's seeking life in prison without the possibility of parole.

"Witnesses are aging," he said.

The need to proceed efficiently and quickly is also why Surry County, despite its own murder charges, agreed to California Gov. Gavin Newsom's extradition request, Nasarenko said.

Alexander's arraignment began Wednesday morning in Ventura County Superior Court and was continued to 9 a.m. Aug. 21. He is being held in Ventura County Jail without bail.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 73-year-old ex-trucker faces 3 murder charges in 1977 California strangulations