CatFancier
Former Member
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- May 20, 2011
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I was hoping maybe some smart sleuthers could help me find information on an unsolved case of a woman I used to babysit for. She was super sweet, a devoted mother to a toddler and her life was ended way too early. All I have been able to find in MSM is a copy of a San Jose Mercury News article detailing unsolved murders of women in the area.
COLD CASES GET NEW LOOK AFTER ARREST IN 2 DEATHS
By Linda Goldston
Mercury News
In just 47 days in the fall of 1984, six women were beaten, stabbed or
strangled in Santa Clara County.
Each slaying seemed worse than the last and police weren't sure at
first if they were looking for one killer or several.
More than two decades later, two of those homicides remain unsolved but
they're getting renewed scrutiny. Now that San Jose police have
identified Luis Aguilar Perez as the first suspected serial killer in
the county, investigators are taking fresh looks at those two unsolved
cases and dozens of others for a possible connection to him -- and
hoping other departments will do the same.
``Not only are we going through our unsolved cases, we've also
requested other agencies throughout the nation to look into their
unsolved files to see if Perez is linked to any of them,'' said San
Jose police officer Enrique Garcia, spokesman for the department. ``You
never know.''
Since 1962, there have been 195 unsolved homicides in San Jose and
women were victims in about 20 percent of them, Garcia said.
Countywide, there are about 300 unsolved killings, including those in
San Jose, which has long had a reputation as one of the safest big
cities in America.
Chief Assistant District Attorney Karyn Sinunu, who formed the office's
cold case unit in January to start whittling that number down, said
``The theme of the unit is that we are not going to forget the victims
and their families.
``With the low violent crime rate we have in the county now, we're able
to work these cold cases,'' she said.
Perez, who lived in San Jose from 1983 to 1989, has been charged in two
slayings -- 50-year-old Florence Ruth Berrospe in 1984 and 61-year-old
Nestora McCune in 1989 -- and charges are pending against him for
another slaying in San Francisco.
But in a jailhouse interview with the Mercury News last week, Perez
said he told police he had killed more than 30 women in five states and
Mexico. He said he killed women in Watsonville, Chicago and New York
City, as well as North Dakota and South Dakota.
The 40-year-old serial murder suspect also told the Mercury News he had
made up the stories he told police. Authorities say he is linked to
three of the killings by DNA evidence.
Whether he is charged with more killings or not, ``we have a serial
killer,'' Sinunu said, and the renewed focus on the cold cases will
continue.
``I was a defense lawyer for 18 years, and that point of view comes in
handy in analyzing these cases,'' said Deputy District Attorney Charles
Constantinides, who was named by Sinunu to head the Cold Case Unit.
Sometimes it's luck, sometimes it's hard work and sometimes it's the
public's help that finally reins in some killers.
Constantinides said investigators would welcome any tips on the old
cases.
COLD CASES GET NEW LOOK AFTER ARREST IN 2 DEATHS
By Linda Goldston
Mercury News
In just 47 days in the fall of 1984, six women were beaten, stabbed or
strangled in Santa Clara County.
Each slaying seemed worse than the last and police weren't sure at
first if they were looking for one killer or several.
More than two decades later, two of those homicides remain unsolved but
they're getting renewed scrutiny. Now that San Jose police have
identified Luis Aguilar Perez as the first suspected serial killer in
the county, investigators are taking fresh looks at those two unsolved
cases and dozens of others for a possible connection to him -- and
hoping other departments will do the same.
``Not only are we going through our unsolved cases, we've also
requested other agencies throughout the nation to look into their
unsolved files to see if Perez is linked to any of them,'' said San
Jose police officer Enrique Garcia, spokesman for the department. ``You
never know.''
Since 1962, there have been 195 unsolved homicides in San Jose and
women were victims in about 20 percent of them, Garcia said.
Countywide, there are about 300 unsolved killings, including those in
San Jose, which has long had a reputation as one of the safest big
cities in America.
Chief Assistant District Attorney Karyn Sinunu, who formed the office's
cold case unit in January to start whittling that number down, said
``The theme of the unit is that we are not going to forget the victims
and their families.
``With the low violent crime rate we have in the county now, we're able
to work these cold cases,'' she said.
Perez, who lived in San Jose from 1983 to 1989, has been charged in two
slayings -- 50-year-old Florence Ruth Berrospe in 1984 and 61-year-old
Nestora McCune in 1989 -- and charges are pending against him for
another slaying in San Francisco.
But in a jailhouse interview with the Mercury News last week, Perez
said he told police he had killed more than 30 women in five states and
Mexico. He said he killed women in Watsonville, Chicago and New York
City, as well as North Dakota and South Dakota.
The 40-year-old serial murder suspect also told the Mercury News he had
made up the stories he told police. Authorities say he is linked to
three of the killings by DNA evidence.
Whether he is charged with more killings or not, ``we have a serial
killer,'' Sinunu said, and the renewed focus on the cold cases will
continue.
``I was a defense lawyer for 18 years, and that point of view comes in
handy in analyzing these cases,'' said Deputy District Attorney Charles
Constantinides, who was named by Sinunu to head the Cold Case Unit.
Sometimes it's luck, sometimes it's hard work and sometimes it's the
public's help that finally reins in some killers.
Constantinides said investigators would welcome any tips on the old
cases.