LAPD Cold Case Cracked
Thursday, Jan 7, 2010 | Updated 2:54 PM PST
LAPD
Victor Alvarez, 53, was arrested Oct. 3 at a methadone clinic in New York City and returned to Los Angeles Thursday
A man accused of sexually assaulting and murdering a woman in Los Angeles 27 years ago, and suspected of killing another woman found dead the same day, is behind bars, thanks to DNA evidence and help from the New York Police Department.
Victor Alvarez, 53, was arrested Oct. 3 at a methadone clinic in New York City and returned to Los Angeles Thursday, said Officer Cleon Joseph of the Los Angeles Police Department at a Friday news conference.
On Aug. 16, 1982, 65-year-old Cordelia Ferguson was found stabbed and beaten to death in her fourth floor apartment in the 3300 block of West Fourth Street, Joseph said.
The body of Hazel Hughes, 63, was found the same day in her apartment on the first floor of the same apartment building. She had been sexually assaulted as well as beaten.
A single fingerprint matching Alvarez's was found at Hughes' apartment, Joseph said.
Alvarez, who had been living on the third floor of the apartment building, was a suspect in a prowler complaint before the killings, but no charges were filed against him at the time.
Police always believed the two murders were connected, and DNA collected at Hughes' apartment recently matched Alvarez's DNA, which was provided by the NYPD, Joseph said.
``This cold case became hot when the DNA sample recovered from the crime scene matched the sample taken from Alvarez in New York,'' LAPD Capt. Kevin McClure said in a statement. ``This is a direct result of a system working as designed due to the hard work of the LAPD Cold Case Unit with the assistance of the NYPD Cold Case Unit.''
Alvarez is charged with murdering Hughes during the commission of a burglary and sodomy, and is being held without bail.
Ferguson's murder is still being investigated, police said.
