A TECH CEO has been charged with the murder of a 25-year-old woman who was found dead in her car with a rope around her neck more than 20 years ago, according to a news release from the Santa Clara County Office of the District Attorney.
ReadyTech CEO John Kevin Woodward was arrested at JFK airport on Saturday after new evidence was found in the murder of roommate's girlfriend Laurie Houts.
The Santa Clara County Crime Lab in tandem with the Mountain View Police Department detectives found Woodward's DNA on the rope used to strangle Houts, the news release from the announced.
Their use of "new developments in forensic science technology" in 2021 allowed them to gather the first piece of evidence that placed the tech CEO in the vehicle on the night of the 1992 murder.
Houts, a 25-year-old computer engineer, was found strangled in her car on Crittenden Lane in Mountain View, California by a pedestrian on September 5, 1992. The murderer left the rope around her neck.
In the initial investigation, it was quickly "determined that Woodward was a prime suspect,"according to the DA's office.
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Investigators stated they found he was "openly jealous of Ms. Houts" and he had allegedly "developed an unrequited romantic attachment to his roommate, her boyfriend."
The news release also states Woodward had no alibi for the time of the murder.
Suspect Woodward was "tried twice unsuccessfully" in the 1990s.
"The case was dismissed by a judge for insufficient evidence after a jury could not reach a verdict following the second trial," the statement from the DA's office reads.
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Woodward moved to Amsterdam after the dismissal of the case, where he worked and resided until his Saturday arrest.
While Woodward's finger prints were found outside of the vehicle, there was previously no evidence that placed him inside the car.
The footprints found on the windshield of the car indicated Houts' struggle during the attack.
Woodward, 58-year-old Bay Area native and CEO and president of an online training company known as ReadyTech, was arrested on his way back from Amsterdam.
Dutch authorities and the Department of Justice secured a warrant for the search of Woodward's business and place of residence in the Netherlands.
Multiple USB drives and computers were taken out of Woodward's possession.
If convicted, Woodward faces life in prison. He is currently being held without bail in New York, while waiting for his extradition in California.
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Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said of the case, "I want Ms. Houts family and friends to know that we never gave up on her…"
"…Neither time nor distance will stop us from finding out the truth and seeking justice."
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