An Oregon man has been arrested on a murder charge in the death of an 84-year-old California woman nearly three decades after police said she was killed inside her apartment.
Advancements in DNA technology have linked Joe Contreras, of Dallas, Oregon, to the killing of Alice Sharitz, who was found dead in her San José home in October 1997, the San José Police Department said in a news release on Wednesday, January 8.
Contreras, 75, had been involved in a romantic relationship with Sharitz, San José deputy police chief Brian Spears said at a January 8 news conference, CBS News reported.
“Contreras did have a relationship with the victim, this is not a stranger-related homicide,” Spears said.
Information on Contreras’ legal representation was not immediately available.
On October 6, 1997, Sharitz’s neighbor called 911 after they went to her apartment to give her a card and found her “front door ajar,” with Sharitz lying on the floor of her living room, according to police.
When officers arrived at the apartment, where Sharitz lived alone, they saw a “wooden-handled” knife “embedded in her chest” and noticeable scrapes on Shartiz’s knees, police said.
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She had been stabbed twice and had several broken bones, neck injuries, as well as cuts on her face, according to an autopsy, which determined she died of “multiple traumatic injuries,” according to police.
Investigators located and collected DNA from her apartment to keep as “potential evidence,” but “despite exhaustive investigative efforts at the time, the case went cold,” police said.
The DNA included phlegm found in her toilet bowl, which investigators ultimately linked to Contreras, The Mercury News reported.
A new lead in the case came in 2021, when police said evidence from the crime scene resulted in a developed DNA profile belonging to a man. Then a forensic genealogy analysis was performed.
“In October 2024, the sample identified Joe Contreras as a potential source of the DNA,” police said.
Two months later, in December 2024, San José investigators worked with the Dallas Police Department in Oregon to get a DNA sample from Contreras, according to authorities.
In February 2025, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Crime Lab learned the DNA evidence found in Sharitz’s apartment was a match to Contreras, police said.
Following the discovery, investigators visited Dallas, Oregon to conduct interviews with Contreras, according to police. Dallas is about a 60-mile drive southwest from Portland.
While speaking with Contreras, he is accused of giving different alibis in connection with Sharitz’s death, The Mercury News reported. He was 47 when she was killed.
According to a probable cause affidavit viewed by the outlet, Contreras admitted he had an affair with Sharitz and blamed his then-wife, accusing her of the murder. His wife is no longer alive, The Mercury News reported.
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Detectives ultimately concluded, based on the interviews and DNA evidence, that Contreras killed Sharitz in 1997, police said.
After San José police secured an arrest warrant, authorities said Dallas police in Oregon detained him on December 19.
Then on Tuesday, January 6, he was extradited to San José and held in the Santa Clara County Main Jail, police said.
“Time does not erase responsibility,” San José Police Department Chief Paul Joseph said in a statement.
Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement that “Justice for Alice Sharitz and her loved ones was long in coming, but it is here.”
“It took DNA. It took genealogy,” Rosen added. “And it took the mindset of the SJPD and the DA’s Cold Case Unit to never give up on a victim, ever.”