XPost: alt.politics.homosexuality, alt.california, sac.politics
XPost: talk.politics.guns

Twice he was tried, and twice, a jury failed to convict John Kevin
Woodward for killing his roommate�s girlfriend, a computer engineer and
athlete found strangled in her car in Mountain View, Calif., in the early 1990s.

Now, prosecutors have charged the gay tech CEO with murder for the third
time in connection with a killing that happened 30 years ago after they
say new developments in forensic science technology link him to the murder weapon.

Police arrested Woodward, Readytech�s president and chief executive
officer, at JFK International Airport in New York Saturday after he
arrived from Amsterdam, according to a Santa Clara County District
Attorney�s news release.

He is charged with murdering 25-year-old Laurie Houts.

Authorities say Woodward waived extradition, so Mountain View police have
until July 29 to escort him back to Santa Clara County, where he�ll be
formally booked and arraigned.

Houts was found strangled in her car about a mile from her job by a
passerby on Sept. 5, 1992. A rope was still wrapped around her neck.

�Her footprints were on the windshield interior, a sign of her struggle
with Woodward. Her unrifled pocketbook was nearby,� the news release
states.

Woodward, prosecutors say, had developed unrequited feelings for Houts� boyfriend, his roommate, and was �openly jealous� of her. Woodward did not
have an alibi, and when asked about Houts� death by the boyfriend, he
asked about what the investigators knew about him.

Despite finding Woodward�s fingerprints outside Houts� car, investigators
could not prove that he was inside.

As a result of the death in the late 1990s, Woodward was tried twice, but
the case was dismissed. The jury did not reach a verdict in the first
trial. Following the second trial, a judge dismissed the case due to insufficient evidence.

Following the dismissal of his case, Woodward moved to the Netherlands.

Detectives reexamined the case and resubmitted items from the original investigation to the Santa Clara County Crime Lab for analysis in late
2020, according to Mountain View police. The DNA samples found in the
evidence matched Woodward�s DNA, police said. Additionally, more than 80
latent fingerprints found in the evidence matched him. Detectives and a
crime lab also linked Woodward to the rope found around Houts� neck in
2021 using new developments in forensic science technology.

Police used Y-STR analysis of paternal male chromosomes to identify
Woodward as the suspect. Houts� boyfriend was excluded.

The Houts family said they are �hopeful that justice can finally be
served,� according to a statement by the City of Mountain View.

Woodward could spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted.

<https://www.yahoo.com/now/gay-tech-ceo-charged-30-164520790.html>

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