Cold Case Murder of Stanford Graduate

45 Years to Find a Murderer

An unsolved murder of 21-year-old Stanford graduate Leslie Perlov in Palo Alto is finally now solved after 45 years. The murder has been unsolved since February 1973. Leslie Perlov was last seen at her place of work and later that day her Chevrolet Nova was found by Old Page Mill Road and Page Mill Road.

“A sheriff’s deputy on horseback found her body three days later under an oak tree in the area.” said KTVU editor Henry Lee.

Unfortunately, FBI and other federal agencies failed to match the DNA of this murder case during the time of this incident. However, the DNA that found the long unknown but now known murderer was processed by Parabon NanoLabs. Parabon NanoLabs is a DNA technology research company located in Virginia.

“In July, authorities submitted an unknown male DNA profile found on the evidence of Perlov’s murder to Parabon NanoLabs, a DNA technology company in Reston, Virginia, for analysis using the lab’s Snapshot DNA Analysis Service, the release stated.” said ABC News editor Julia Jacobo.

With no breaks in the case since Tuesday, it was good news to hear something has been discovered. Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office announced recently that DNA led to a suspect, John Arthur Getreu, age 74, who was soon arrested at his home in Hayward. The officers of Santa Clara County detail that the murder suspect, Getreu, killed Perlov by strangulation. Getreu is being held in jail without bail. He rejected all interviews by any news media and it is uncertain whether or not he has an attorney.

The murderer was not a first-time offender either. It was revealed that Getreu had other accounts of crime from his past.
“Getreu had previously served time in a German prison for raping and killing a 16-year-old girl in 1964.” said ABC7 News (KGO) editor, Chris Nguyen.

However, John Getreu was not the first suspect of this murder. Back in September, a serial rapist was thought to be the culprit. This first suspect murderer was named Joseph DeAngelo. He is also known as The Golden State Killer.
“DeAngelo was the first suspect arrested using the company’s database in September.” said The Washington Post editor Paul Elias.

When a federal agency fails to find a DNA match, other methods are approached and executed. Interestingly, one would be surprised how DNA labs collect their samples.

“The database doesn’t collect DNA samples directly, instead it aggregates results from commercial sites like 23andMe submitted by users.” said The Washington Post editor Paul Elias.

“The lab also collaborated with authorities to help identify a suspect in the Golden State Killer murder mystery earlier this year.” said Fox editor Ryan Gaydos.

Additionally, investigators around the United States are starting to use GED database more often for help when the FBI’s national DNA database fails. The investigators of this cold case murder will continue to discover if Getreu is connected to other unsolved crimes.

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