Arrest in ’73 slay of gal in Calif.
A man has been arrested in the 1973 cold-case murder of Stanford graduate and aspiring law student Leslie Marie Perlov, with the help of DNA genealogy analysis.
John Arthur Getreu, 74, was interrogated and arrested Tuesday at his home in Hayward, Calif.
Perlov, then 21, was last seen at her job in Palo Alto on Feb. 13, 1973, and her body was found under an oak tree near her school three days later.
Her cause of death was strangulation by ligature.
After Perlov’s case remained unsolved for decades, Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office investigators found “unknown male DNA profile on evidentiary items” in July and sent a DNA sample to Parabon NanoLabs, a DNA technology company in Virginia.
“Law enforcement agencies across the country use the company’s Snapshot DNA Analysis Service to advance investigations when traditional DNA methods fail to produce a match,” the news release explained.
“The service uses advanced DNA testing in combination with innovative genetic analysis, sophisticated identification techniques, and traditional genealogical methods to establish the relationship between an unknown subject and his/her known ancestors.”
The evidence identified Getreu as a suspect, according to a media release from the Santa Clara County Sheriff ’s Office.
His DNA was confirmed a positive match on Nov. 9.
Getreu is being held without bail on suspicion of Perlov’s murder in Santa Clara County Main Jail.