San Quentin Inmate Charged In 1991 San Jose Murder
SAN JOSE (BCN) -- Santa Clara County prosecutors are charging a man with the murder of a 26-year-old woman 20 years after she was found strangled to death in her San Jose apartment.
DNA evidence led prosecutors to suspect Ralph Baldenegro, 60, killed Julie Bucalo on Feb. 4, 1991, in her Meridian Avenue apartment, according to the district attorney's office.
Baldenegro, who is serving time at San Quentin State Prison for crimes he committed in Alameda County, was initially suspected in the murder by Bucalo's friends and family, according to the district attorney's office. Police, however, did not have sufficient evidence to charge or arrest him in connection with the murder.
A recent re-examination of the evidence collected during the murder investigation painted a different picture. The district attorney's office crime lab results showed Baldenegro's DNA on Bucalo's clothes, which were torn from her body, and underneath her fingernails.
Baldenegro is expected to be arraigned on the new charges soon.
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