Suspected serial killer accused of strangling 3 Southern California women in 1977 extradited, facing murder charges

3 months ago 6

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, he 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.

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.