Who was Laurie Houts? | The Sun
LAURIE Houts was 25 years old when she was found strangled in her car near her office in Mountain View, California in September 1992.
Three decades later, her ex-boyfriend's roommate has been charged with her murder and will be extradited to California to await trial.
Who was Laurie Houts?
Laurie Houts was a computer engineer living in California when she was found strangled in her car.
On September 5, 1992, Houts was reportedly on her way from work at Adobe Systems and had planned to attend a wedding later that day with her boyfriend, Brent Fulmer.
But Houts never made it to the wedding. She was found strangled in her car on the side of the road several hours later by a jogger.
She was found with a three-foot nylon rope that was still tied in a square knot around her chin, mouth, and neck, and investigators found her footprints on the dashboard, providing evidence of a struggle.
Authorities turned to Fulmer's roommate, John Woodward, as a prime suspect in Houts' murder after finding his fingerprints on the outside door of her car.
Woodward was arrested and charged with the murder of Laurie Houts.
Was anyone convicted of her murder?
Woodward was arrested only a few months after Houts' was found dead in her car and prosecutors argued Woodward was driven by jealousy to kill her.
They argued that Woodward was jealous of the intimate relationship between Houts and Fulmer, driving him to murder her.
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Prior to Woodward's arrest, police held a monitored call between Fulmer and his roommate in which Woodward "did not deny" killing her, according to police records.
The records said that Woodward had asked Fulmer "what evidence the police had against him and suggested they meet in a parking lot to discuss the matter,” Mercury News reported.
Woodward was brought to court where he denied the charges against him.
He was tried two times in the 1990s, but both trials ended in a hung jury, 8-4 and 7-5, both in favor of acquittal.
The judge eventually dismissed the case due to insufficient evidence and neither convicted nor acquitted, Woodward moved to the Netherlands.
Have the police found leads in Laurie Houts' murder?
Woodward stepped off the plane at John F Kennedy International Airport on July 9, 2022, and was arrested in connection to Houts' murder.
Now 58 years old, Woodward is the chief executive of ReadyTech, an international training software company, but police say they have new evidence connecting Woodward to a three-decade-old cold case.
Investigators have continued to reexamine evidence, but it wasn't until 2005 that they found a lead.
DNA samples that had been collected from the rope found around Houts' neck reportedly matched Woodward.
The Mountain View Police, led by Detective Sgt. David Fisher re-opened the case in 2020.
“We looked deep at every single option we had,” Fisher told Mercury News.
In a new examination released on July 11, 2022, police wrote that “fibers from sweatpants inside Woodward’s car were virtually indistinguishable from fibers found on the murder weapon (rope) around Houts’ neck.”
However, without knowing Woodward's location, the authorities were unable to make an arrest.
When Woodward flew to the US on July 9, 2022, he was flagged by the Department of Homeland Security and investigators flew to New York where they arrested him.
Authorities have until July 29 to send Woodward to Santa Clara County in California where he will await trial for murder.
If convicted, he faces life in prison.
In a statement, Houts’s family said: “Laurie Anne Houts was a beloved family member and friend to many.
"Although she was only 5’ tall, she had a huge heart and her humor and spunk were endearing to all.
"The way Laurie lived and treated people was a stunning example of what was right in the world. She was a gem to so many, but her bright life was taken from us at the age of 25.
They added: "We are hopeful that justice can finally be served for Laurie and incredibly appreciative of the law enforcement agencies who have never given up on her.”
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