"SAN JOSE The only forensic lead in the 1997 killing of 84-year-old Alice Sharitz found lying on the floor of her North Jackson Avenue apartment, savagely beaten with a knife protruding from her chest was a glob of phlegm floating in her toilet bowl. In the ensuing years, Sharitz's death became known to some investigators as the loogie case. Nearly three decades later, authorities say that telltale mucus has finally pointed to a suspect, 75-year-old Joe Angel Contreras, who was just extradited from Oregon to answer for the October 1997 homicide."
"Justice for Alice Sharitz and her loved ones was long in coming, but it is here. It took DNA. It took genealogy. And it took the mindset of the SJPD and the DA's Cold Case Unit to never give up on a victim, ever, District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement. San Jose Police Chief Paul Joseph added in a statement: Time does not erase responsibility. Forensic examination, paired with a genealogical analysis, reportedly linked the toilet bowl phlegm to Contreras, who gave SJPD detectives a series of shifting alibis when they interviewed him at his home last June."
Alice Sharitz, 84, was found dead on Oct. 6, 1997, in her North Jackson Avenue apartment, savagely beaten with a knife protruding from her chest. The only forensic lead was a glob of phlegm floating in her toilet bowl, earning the case the nickname "the loogie case." Forensic examination combined with genealogical analysis later linked that mucus to 75-year-old Joe Angel Contreras. Contreras was arrested in Dallas, Oregon on Dec. 19 and extradited to Santa Clara County to face a murder charge. Investigators reported Contreras gave shifting alibis and at one point blamed his deceased wife after confessing to an affair with the victim.
Read at www.mercurynews.com
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