Sharon K. Gossen Novoselatz, a 34-year-old Caucasian woman, was born on August 16, 1948, in De Pere, Wisconsin. She graduated from De Pere High School in 1966 and worked as a secretary for various companies, including Smith, Smith and Roels; Rothe Foundry; and Pauly Cheese Company. On September 22, 1971, she married Gerald Jacob Novoselatz, and the couple relocated to California three years prior to their deaths.
On January 2, 1983, Sharon and her 39-year-old husband, Gerald, were murdered in California. Gerald was shot and killed at their residence in San Jose. Following Gerald's murder, Sharon was kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and subsequently killed. Her body was discovered near the Crystal Springs Reservoir off State Route 92.
The perpetrator, James Richard Curry, was the manager of a storage lot in Santa Clara and a business rival of the Novoselatz couple, who operated a competing storage facility in San Jose. Curry confessed to the murders of Gerald and Sharon Novoselatz, as well as to the killing of Richard Lemmon Jr., whose body was found in a wooden crate in Curry's storage unit. He was also suspected in the disappearance of James DeWitt Robinson, whose remains were never located.
Shortly after his arrest on January 4, 1983, Curry attempted suicide in his jail cell by hanging. He was found and taken to San Jose Hospital, where he was placed on life support. On January 7, 1983, after determining that his vital signs were too faint for recovery, doctors disconnected life support, and Curry was pronounced dead.
