DNA evidence connects accused serial killer to three cold cases in Southern California

North Carolina law enforcement extradited an accused serial killer to Southern California on Tuesday after prosecutors connected him to three killings from the 1970s.  

The Ventura County District Attorney's Office charged Mississippi native Warren Luther Alexander, 73, with three counts of first-degree murder after he allegedly strangled three women to death decades ago. Detectives connected him to the killings after law enforcement in North Carolina arrested him for another cold case murder from 1992. 

The alleged murders of Kimberly Carol Fritz, Velvet Ann Sanchez and Lorraine Ann Rodriguez happened months apart in 1977. While detectives exhausted all leads in their initial investigation, investigators reopened the case 46 years later in February 2023. The Ventura County Sheriff's Office assigned the case to its Cold Case Unit. 

Detectives said the breakthrough in the case happened thanks to DNA evidence collected at the crime scene and victims decades ago. 

Alexander appeared in Ventura County Superior Court for the first time on Wednesday. The court scheduled his arraignment on Aug. 21 at 9 a.m.

In the meantime, Alexander will stay in jail on a no-bail hold.