Velvet Ann Sanchez, 31, was found dead in a motel room in Oxnard, California on September 8, 1977. She was one of three Ventura County women who were strangled that year; the other victims were Kimberly Carol Fritz, 18, and Lorraine Ann Rodriguez, 21. All three worked as sex workers and frequented local hotels, and investigators long considered the killings connected.

The cases remained unsolved for decades until DNA evidence linked the murders in 2023 to Warren Luther Alexander, a 73-year-old man from Diamondhead, Mississippi. Alexander, already in custody in North Carolina on a separate cold case murder, was matched after crime-scene DNA was entered into CODIS and subsequently extradited to California to face three counts of first-degree murder. He is being held in Ventura County Jail without bail awaiting arraignment.

The Ventura County District Attorney and the Sheriff’s Cold Case Unit say advances in DNA testing produced the match that moved the cases forward. Does anyone have information about Velvet’s life or where she worked in Ventura County that could help fill gaps in the timeline?