Tech CEO arrested in 1992 Mountain View cold case
Suspect arrested for 30-calendar year-previous Mountain Watch murder circumstance
A 69-calendar year-old man moving into the United States on a flight from the Netherlands has been arrested on suspicion of killing Laurie Houts in Mountain See in 1992. Detectives consider the suspect John Woodward killed Houts out of jealousy that she was romantically concerned with his roommate. New DNA tests cracked the case, law enforcement say.
MOUNTAIN Check out, Calif. – Advances in forensic science technology led to the arrest very last weekend of a Bay Place govt suspected of strangling a woman to death 30 many years back in Mountain Look at, authorities claimed.
John Kevin Woodward, 58, president and chief government officer of ReadyTech, was taken into custody Saturday at John F. Kennedy Worldwide Airport in New York as he was arriving from Amsterdam, in accordance to the Santa Clara County Workplace of the District Lawyer.
On Monday, he waived extradition and is expected to be escorted to the Bay Place by Mountain See detectives by the close of the thirty day period, a district attorney spokesperson stated.
Woodward, suspected in the 1992 demise of 25-calendar year-aged Laurie Houts, will be arraigned when he arrives, District Attorney Jeff Rosen claimed in a information release. Loved ones and mates collected at the Mountain Perspective Police Dept. Monday just after listening to of the arrest
“It does not genuinely make any difference what transpires due to the fact Laurie is not coming back. We really do not get to get and get our sister back. We get to gain and it’s possible get some justice or some closure,” said Cindy, Houts’ young sister.
Houts, a laptop or computer engineer, was observed dead on Sept. 5, 1992, in her auto on Crittenden Lane in Mountain See, in the vicinity of a rubbish dump about a mile from her work, authorities claimed.
“I was quite very pleased of her and she was stood on her have. No matter if it was in the classroom, or us participating in co-ed softball, co-ed basketball in university. We overlook that,” mentioned her very best mate, Marilyn.
The rope utilized to destroy her was nonetheless all around her neck, and authorities mentioned her footprints were on the windshield interior, showing she struggled with her attacker.
Mountain Look at police have created an arrest in the relationship with the demise of Laurie Houts, who was identified strangled to loss of life 30 years ago.
Woodward’s fingerprints had been located on the outside the house of Houts’ auto, but investigators in 1992 were being never ready to show he was within the auto.
Last calendar year, the Santa Clara County Criminal offense Lab and Mountain Perspective Law enforcement Division detectives used new developments in forensic science engineering to link Woodward to the rope found all-around Houts’ neck, the district attorney mentioned.
Authorities allege Woodward was overtly jealous of Houts and experienced “an unrequited romantic attachment” to her boyfriend, who was his roommate.
It is really not the first time Woodward has confronted costs in Houts’ loss of life. The district attorney said Woodward was experimented with 2 times unsuccessfully in the late 1990s in the scenario, but it was dismissed for insufficient proof right after a jury could not arrive at a verdict next the second trial.
Woodward moved to the Netherlands right after the case was dismissed, authorities said.
Woodward is currently becoming held devoid of bail in New York though awaiting extradition to California.
