The Associated Press
SAN JOSE, California- The 25-year-old murder of a young German woman found in an East San Jose carport on New Year’s Day has been linked to a convicted killer serving time in prison, according to a media report.
Police told the San Jose Mercury News they identified the suspect after conducting scientific tests on old evidence found on the the body of Ines Sailer and her clothes.
“The big break was the DNA test,” police spokesman Sgt. Nick Muyo said.
Melvin Forte, 50, has been charged with the murder of Sailer, 23,, who was living in San Francisco at the time.
Investigators said Sailer went to a party on New Year’s Eve 1980 and left at 1:30 a.m. the next day. Police found her body in East San Jose later that morning. She had been shot multiple times with a small-caliber handgun.
Police said they matched DNA evidence to Forte, whose DNA profile is in a state database. Forte is in prison for a 1982 homicide and robbery in San Francisco, police said.