‘Full force of the law:’ California DA offers details on break in cold cases

Warren Alexander

More information is coming out about a Diamondhead man who is accused of three murders in California and another in North Carolina.

73-year-old Warren Luther Alexander was arrested in Mississippi in March 2022 and extradited to North Carolina, charged with the murder of Nona Cobb, who was found strangled on the side of Interstate 77 in Surry County in 1992.

His DNA was entered into a nationwide database and came back as a match for three murders in Ventura County from 1977. The 47-year-old cold cases were linked to Alexander and he was extradited this week to California and formally charged in the deaths of Velvet Sanchez, Lorraine Rodriguez and Kimberly Fritz.

Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko offered details into the deaths of the three women. He said all three were sex workers and were known to frequent the Plaza Marina Shopping Center, known as “The Stroll.”

• Lorraine Rodriguez, 21, left a son and a daughter. She was found strangled at Laguna Road Bridge in December 27, 1977
• Velvet Sanchez was separated from her husband and had recently left work at the Navy Exchange. She was found Sept. 8, 1977 at the Villa Motor Court Motel. She died by strangulation. She left three children.
• Kimberly Fritz was found at the Marv-Inn Motel. She had been strangled. She was a Michigan native and was survived by a sister and her father.

“Just because a case goes cold does not mean they should be forgotten,” Nasarenko said. “And while we cannot bring back Kim, Velvet and Lorraine, we can make sure that the person accused of these horrific crimes in Ventura County faces the full weight and force of the law.”

He went on to say that detectives noticed patterns and similarities in all three deaths that led them to believe they were related – and that there may be other victims locally – and possibly in other states.

“This is not a closed case,” Nasarenko said.

The DA also gave some information into Alexander’s history.

He was known to have lived in Oxnard, California in the 50s and 60s, attending elementary, middle school and high school in Ventura, California.

Public records show he was a senior at Long Beach High School in 1969.

The DA said he served in the Marine Corps as an electrician and returned to Oxnard in the 1970s, where he worked as a cab driver and as a long-haul trucker from the 70s through the 90s.

He returned to the Coast and lived in Long Beach, Lyman and Gulfport before settling in Diamondhead in 2006.