A “suspected serial killer” from Mississippi was charged in connection to the cold-case 1977 strangulations of three women in Southern California — and authorities believe there may be additional victims, prosecutors announced on Thursday.
Warren Luther Alexander, 73, was charged with three counts of murder in Ventura County after he was extradited from North Carolina on Tuesday, where he is also awaiting prosecution for a separate 1992 cold case murder committed in Surry County.
His three victims in California — Kimberly Carol Fritz, 18; Velvet Ann Sanchez, 31; and Ann Rodriguez, 21 — were all sex workers who were killed by “ligature strangulations,” District Attorney Erik Nasarenko told reporters.
Fritz was found dead in the city of Port Hueneme on May 29, 1977. Sanchez’s body was located on Sept. 8 in the city of Oxnard while Rodriguez’s was discovered on Dec. 27 in an unincorporated area.
All three frequented an area north of Los Angeles known for prostitution.
“While believing these three crimes were indeed connected, leads ran cold and detectives were unable to identify who was responsible for these horrific murders,” Nasarenko said.
The Ventura County Sheriff’s Cold Case Unit reopened the case last February and matched DNA evidence found at each scene with evidence uploaded to a national database, the district attorney said.
“Just because a case has gone cold, does not mean it should ever be forgotten,” Nasarenko added..
Investigative genealogy had identified Alexander as a suspect in the North Carolina death of 29-year-old Nona Cobb, who was also strangled and dumped along Interstate 77, the DA said.
Alexander was arrested for the Cobb slaying in March 2022, according to North Carolina media reports. That case has not yet gone to trial.
The accused killer grew up in Oxnard, Ventura County, in the late 1950s and ’60s, where he attended elementary, middle and high schools. He returned to the city in the 1970s, Nasarenko said.
From the 1970s into the early 1990s Alexander was a long-haul, cross-country truck driver, Nasarenko said.
Authorities believe he may have killed others.
“We believe there may be additional victims both locally and other states,” he said. “This is an ongoing investigation, and we will continue to pursue all leads that become available.
“This is not in any way closed.”
Alexander made his first appearance in Ventura County Superior Court on Thursday morning and will be arraigned on Aug. 21.
He is being held in Ventura County Jail without bail.
With Post wires
