Louie Salazar, who was arrested April 21 for allegedly beating 86-year-old Teressie Edna White to death in her Blohm Avenue home in Aromas on April 22, 1977
The Monterey County Sheriff's Office believes it has solved a 31-year-old Aromas murder with the arrest of Louie Salazar on April 21.
Thanks to modern forensic technology, investigators linked evidence from a 1977 murder to Salazar. Sheriff's deputies are releasing little details about the arrest and would not say what evidence they used or how it was analyzed.
Salazar has been accused of beating 86-year-old Teressie Edna White to death in her Blohm Avenue home in Aromas on April 22, 1977.
The arrest came nearly 31 years to the day after the crime occurred. Salazar was arraigned in Monterey County Superior Court on April 23, when he was assigned a public defender and pleaded not guilty to all charges. He is held on $1 million bail at Monterey County Jail and will appear in court for a preliminary hearing today.
Monterey County Deputy District Attorney Anne Hill is handling the case and noted how she has tried other cold cases successfully, including a 20 year old murder/rape.
The San Benito County Sheriff's Office has been waiting for DNA evidence test results for more than a year in another cold case of Mindy Johnson, a teenager murdered in Aromas in 1969.
Sheriff Curtis Hill said he remembers the White murder case from his first year as a deputy. He said seeing it potentially solved with help from new forensic technology gives him hope that Johnson's case will be solved as well. He said Salazar is a transient who has long been a prime suspect in the case, but that he was never charged because authorities lacked hard evidence.
"When you're in your career, there are things you hold on to, things that wake you up at night and you think about," Hill said of the Salazar case. "This case is one of them - not just for me, but for a lot of people in the office."
Not long after the murder, The Teressie White Memorial Scholarship Foundation was established in White's honor. It gives money to outstanding Aromas-area high school graduates. Donations can be made c/o Aromas Community Grange, P.O. Box 562 Aromas, CA 95004.
Curtis Cartier Curtis Cartier covers the City of Hollister and public safety for the Free Lance. Reach him at (831) 637-5566 or email him.
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