Nearly five decades after a woman was found strangled in her car in San Jose, California, a fingerprint on a cigarette pack has led to an arrest and solved the murder.
Willie Eugene Sims, 69, was taken into custody in Jefferson, Ohio and charged with murder in connection with the 1977 death of Jeanette Ralston. He was arraigned Friday in Ashtabula County and has since been transferred to California to face prosecution, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office.
Ralston, a young mother, was discovered dead on February 1, 1977. Her body was found in the back seat of her Volkswagen Beetle, parked beneath a carport at an apartment complex near the bar where she was last seen.
Friends told police she had left the bar the night before with an unknown man, saying she’d return in ten minutes. No one ever saw her alive again.
Victim found strangled near bar in San Jose
Prosecutors said Ralston had been strangled with a long-sleeved shirt and appeared to have been sexually assaulted. Investigators also found signs that someone had unsuccessfully attempted to set the car on fire.
At the time, officers interviewed witnesses and released a sketch of the unknown man, but no arrest followed. The case remained unsolved for decades.
Last year, investigators revisited the physical evidence. A thumbprint lifted from a cigarette carton found inside Ralston’s car was submitted to the FBI’s upgraded fingerprint database. The print matched Sims, prosecutors said.
New fingerprint match reopens investigation
In early 2024, officials from the District Attorney’s Office and the San Jose Police Department traveled to Ohio to obtain a DNA sample from Sims. According to prosecutors, the sample matched DNA found on Ralston’s fingernails and on the shirt used in the assault.
“Every day, forensic science grows better, and every day criminals are closer to being caught,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement. “Cases may grow old and be forgotten by the public. We don’t forget and we don’t give up.”
At the time of the killing, Sims was serving as an Army private stationed about 68 miles south of San Jose, officials said. Court records also show that a year after Ralston’s death, Sims was convicted in an unrelated case of assault with intent to commit murder in Monterey County. He was sentenced to four years in prison.
Legal team assigned, family reflects on justice
William Weigel, homicide team supervisor for the Santa Clara County Public Defender’s Office, confirmed that defense attorney Lara Wallman has been assigned to the case. He said their office had not yet reviewed the evidence and cautioned against public judgment.
“It is kind of important that we let the system play itself out and allow our side to conduct our own independent review and investigation of the case before we rush to judgment as it were,” he said.
Jeanette Ralston’s son, Allen, was six years old when his mother was killed. In an interview with WOIO-TV, he said he felt relief knowing the case was no longer forgotten.
“I’m just glad that somebody cared,” he said.
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