Velvet Ann Sanchez, a 31-year-old woman, was found dead on September 8, 1977, in a motel in Oxnard, California. She was one of three women who were strangled to death in Ventura County that year. The other victims were Kimberly Carol Fritz, 18, and Lorraine Ann Rodriguez, 21. All three women were sex workers who frequented local hotels. The cases went cold for decades until a breakthrough in 2023 when DNA evidence linked the murders to Warren Luther Alexander, a 73-year-old man from
Diamondhead, Mississippi.
Alexander was already in custody in North Carolina for a 1992 cold case murder when he was charged with the murders of Sanchez, Fritz, and Rodriguez. The DNA evidence collected from the crime scenes was uploaded to CODIS, the nationwide law enforcement DNA database, and matched Alexander's DNA. He was extradited from North Carolina to California and charged with three counts of first-degree murder. Alexander is currently being held in Ventura County Jail without bail, awaiting his arraignment.
The Ventura County District Attorney's Office and the Ventura County Sheriff's Department Cold Case Unit worked tirelessly to solve these cases. The investigators never gave up seeking justice for the victims and their families. The murders of Sanchez, Fritz, and Rodriguez were believed to be connected from the beginning, but it took decades of investigation and advancements in DNA technology to finally identify the suspect.
Alexander's arrest and extradition have brought some closure to the families of the victims. The Ventura County District Attorney, Erik Nasarenko, expressed his gratitude to the investigators for their dedication and perseverance in solving these cold cases. The day of reckoning for Alexander has finally arrived, and he will face justice for the brutal murders of Velvet Ann Sanchez, Kimberly Carol Fritz, and Lorraine Ann Rodriguez.
