A murder committed almost half a century ago has been solved (5 photos)

On January 31, 1977, 24-year-old Jeanette Ralston was relaxing at the Lion's Den in San Jose, California, USA. Friends noticed that she left the establishment with a stranger. The next day, her body was found in the backseat of a Volkswagen Beetle. The girl's car was parked five minutes from her home.





A passerby looked into the car and saw a girl with a shirt tied around her neck.

According to the autopsy, Jeanette was sexually assaulted before her death. The killer tried to set the car on fire, but it didn't catch fire.



The police couldn't find the culprit for 50 years. And now, finally, the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office has announced the arrest of a suspect.

Thanks to new forensic technology, evidence was found. Among them were fingerprints on Jeanette's cigarette pack and DNA on her nails and shirt.

An examination established a match with a man named Willie Eugene Sims.





"Using DNA evidence and fingerprints from a pack of Eve cigarettes, the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office has charged a 69-year-old Ohio man with the murder of a woman he met at a San Jose bar nearly 50 years ago," the statement read.

"Willie Eugene Sims is accused of murdering Jeanette Ralston by strangling her with her shirt on Feb. 1, 1977. Friends of Ralston say they last saw her alive just before midnight on January 31, leaving the Lion's Den bar on Almaden Road in San Jose with an unknown man."



District Attorney Jeff Rosen said, "Forensic technology improves every day, and criminals are closer to being arrested. Cold cases may be forgotten by the public, but we remember and we don't give up."

In 1978, Sims, a private at Fort Ord, was convicted of assault with intent to murder. He left before his DNA could be entered into the state database.

"Investigators from the San Jose District Attorney's Bureau of Investigation and the San Jose Police Department traveled to Ohio and collected Sims' DNA with the help of Ashtabula County authorities. Last week, forensics found Sims' DNA on Ralston's fingernails and the shirt she was strangled with."



Sims is being held without bail and is scheduled to appear in court on Aug. 12. He faces 25 years to life in prison.