Thumb print on cigarettes helps solve 1977 San Jose strangulation case

Thumb print on cigarettes helps break 1977 San Jose strangling

A thumbprint on a pack of cigarettes led police to an Ohio man who they say strangled a Peninsula woman near a San Jose bar in 1977, prosecutors said.

SAN JOSE, Calif. - A thumbprint from a carton of cigarettes helped San Jose police make an arrest in a cold case from nearly 50 years ago.

A DNA test from that print led investigators to 69-year-old Willam Sims of Ohio in the strangulation of Jeanette Ralston, 24, of San Mateo, in February 1977.

She was last seen leaving Lion's Den Bar on Almaden Road with an unknown man.

The next day, her body was found in the back seat of her car, which was parked in the carport of a nearby apartment complex on Graham Avenue. 

San Jose police investigators at the time also noted burn marks inside the car leading them to think that someone had tried to set fire to the car.

An autopsy determined that Ralston had been strangled with a long-sleeved dress shirt, and that there were signs that she had been sexually assaulted, Santa Clara County prosecutors said. 

No suspects were identified at the time.

Officials on Tuesday said the case went cold until last August, when the print matched Sims.

Detectives traveled to Ohio to get a DNA sample from him and matched DNA found at the murder scene inside Ralston's van.

"I spoke to the victim's son today," said Deputy District Santa Clara County Attorney Don Baker. "He was 6 years old when she died. So he's in a man his 50's now. He was very appreciative of the work we did. It was emotional for him. It's emotional for the entire cold case unit."
Sims has been arrested and charged with murder.

He is scheduled to be extradicted to California in the coming days.

Sims had a previous conviction for assault in 1978 in Monterey County. After his release, he moved to Ohio.