A nearly 50-year-old cold case in San Jose, California, has seen a breakthrough with the arrest of a suspect in the 1977 murder of Jeanette Ralston.
The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office announced the development on May 6.
Jeanette Ralston, a 24-year-old living in San Mateo, was found dead on February 1, 1977.
Her body was discovered in the back seat of her Volkswagen Beetle, parked near an apartment complex.
Ralston was last seen leaving the Lion’s Den Bar on Almaden Road just before midnight on January 31, 1977, with an unidentified man. Friends reported her missing shortly after.
Willie Eugene Sims, 69, of Ohio charged by #SantaClaraDA w/murder for using shirt to strangle Jeanette Ralston after meeting her at San Jose bar in 1977, sexually assaulting her & stuffing her in her VW Beetle, per @SanJosePD,cracking case w/his prints found on her cigarette pack pic.twitter.com/4TrNeBMdGX
— Henry K. Lee (@henrykleeKTVU) May 6, 2025
The medical examiner determined Ralston died from strangulation, with a long-sleeve dress shirt tied around her neck. An autopsy also revealed evidence of sexual assault.
The killer attempted to set Ralston’s car on fire, but the vehicle did not burn.
This left critical evidence intact, including a pack of Eve cigarettes found inside.
No suspects were identified at the time, and the case went cold for decades. The Santa Clara County Cold Case Unit, established in 2011, revisited the case in recent years.
In August, a fingerprint on the cigarette pack was retested and matched to Willie Eugene Sims, a 69-year-old resident of Jefferson, Ohio. This was the pivotal break in the case.
Sims was an Army private stationed at Fort Ord in Monterey County at the time of the murder. He had a prior conviction in 1978 for assault with intent to commit murder.
Investigators from the Santa Clara County DA’s Bureau of Investigation and San Jose Police Department traveled to Ohio. They collected a DNA sample from Sims with assistance from Ashtabula County authorities.
The DA’s Crime Lab found Sims’ DNA consistent with samples from Ralston’s fingernails and the shirt used to strangle her. This strengthened the case against him.
“Every day, forensic science grows better, and every day criminals are closer to being caught,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement. “Cases may grow old and be forgotten by the public. We don’t forget and we don’t give up.”
Sims was arraigned in Ohio on May 6 and faces extradition to California. He is charged with one count of murder and could face 25 years to life if convicted.
William Weigel, homicide team supervisor for the Santa Clara County public defender’s office, however, urged everyone to avoid jumping to any premature conclusions.
“It is kind of important that we let the system play itself out and allow our side to conduct our own independent review and investigation of the case before we rush to judgment as it were,” he said, according to the Associated Press.
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