A man from Mississippi has been arrested in connection with the strangulation murders of three women in Ventura County nearly half a century ago.
In February 2023, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Cold Case Unit began re-examining the deaths of the three women – Kimberly Carol Fritz, Velvet Ann Sanchez and Lorraine Ann Rodriguez – each of whom was killed in 1977, the Ventura County DA’s Office said.
While the exact circumstances surrounding the women’s deaths were not disclosed by the DA, an article published in 1978 in the Utah publication The Daily Herald stated that the three women were prostitutes who were strangled with their own underwear.
Sanchez was 31 when she was found dead in an Oxnard motel on Sept. 9, 1977, the Daily Herald reported; the 18-year-old Fritz was found in a motel room on May 29 of that year and Rodriguez, then 22, was found dead near a highway in Oxnard on Dec. 27, but the Herald reported that investigators believed she was also killed at a motel and dumped there.
After decades and decades of investigation, detectives were eventually able to identify the suspect as Warren Luther Alexander, a resident of Diamondhead, Mississippi.
Alexander was extradited to Ventura County and arrived on Tuesday from Surry County, North Carolina, where he was awaiting prosecution for a 1992 cold case murder.
The 73-year-old, who made his first appearance in Ventura County Superior Court on Wednesday, had his arraignment continued to Aug. 21. He is currently being held in the Ventura County Jail without bail.
A joint news conference hosted by Ventura County DA Erik Nasarenko, Sheriff Jim Fryhoff, Oxnard Police Chief Jason Benites and Port Hueneme Police Chief Michael Federico will be held on Thursday at 10:30 a.m. to discuss the case.
