Nearly 30 years after an elderly woman was found dead in her East San Jose apartment, authorities in the South Bay have arrested and charged a man with murder.
The San Jose Police Department announced Wednesday that 75-year-old Joe Contreras of Dallas, Oregon, was arrested Dec. 19 in the 1997 killing of 84-year-old Alice Sharitz. Contreras was extradited from Oregon to California and was booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail.
“Time does not erase responsibility,” Police Chief Paul Joseph said in a statement. “And thanks to the relentless work of our Homicide Unit and the District Attorney’s Cold Case Unit, it never will.”…