Convicted serial killer John Arthur Getreu gets second life sentence for 1973 Stanford slaying
SAN JOSE -- A man convicted of a cold case murder at Stanford University in the 1970s on Thursday was sentenced to seven years to life for a second killing on campus, prosecutors said.
According to the Santa Clara Count District Attorney's Office, convicted serial killer John Arthur Getreu received a life sentencefor the murder of 21-year-old Leslie Perlov on February 13, 1973. With his earlier murder conviction for the March 1974 murder of 21-year-old Janet Taylor, the 79-year-old retired security guard will not be up for parole until at least 2031.
Getreu escaped justice for over 40 years before Santa Clara County Sheriff's detectives, used DNA and determination to track him down to his home in Hayward where he was living with his wife.
He pleaded guilty to killing Perlov, who worked as a librarian at the Stanford Law School, in January.
"The long nightmare of John Getreu is over," District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a press release. "I hope this brings some measure of peace to the loved ones of the people he preyed upon. And I hope that I never have to say his name again."
On February 16, 1973, Perlov's body was discovered in the hills that overlook the campus. Prosecutors said she was strangled to death with a floral scarf.
Two years ago, Getreu was convicted in the murder of Taylor, the daughter of former Stanford football coach and athletic director Chuck Taylor. During that trial, the jury also heard about Getreu's repeated sexual assaults on his stepdaughter between 1970 and 1977 and his raping and threatening to kill a 17-year-old girl participating in a youth program where Getreu volunteered.
The killings were commonly known as "The Stanford Murders."
Getreu used to live near the Stanford campus and had once worked there. The DA charged Getreu in 2018 after investigators matched DNA found under Perlov's fingernails to him.
Prosecutors said Getreu is believed to have committed a string of sexual assaults and at least three slayings.
The sentencing brings to a legal end a saga that left two young women dead and detectives using advances in modern forensic genealogy to solve stubborn cold cases.
Getreu was convicted in Germany in 1963 for the rape and murder of 15-year-old Margaret Williams.
On Thursday, after hearing statements about Perlov from her brother and sister, Judge Hanley Chew sentenced Getreu to serve his term consecutive to the 7-years to life prison sentence he is already serving for the murder of Taylor.
Getreu's DNA is now in the state database and will regularly be compared to DNA from unsolved rapes and murders in hopes of solving additional cold cases.