SANTA MARIA, Calif. — A Gainesville man arrested in metro Atlanta in 2024 has now been found guilty in a nearly four-decade-old California cold case murder.
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According to the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office, a jury on Feb. 27 convicted Aloysius Winthrop James of first-degree murder with the special circumstance of murder committed during the commission of a rape in the 1988 killing of 30-year-old Ofelia Sandoval.
Sandoval was found strangled to death on September 18, 1988, inside her room at the Town Center Motel in the 200 block of North Broadway in Santa Maria, Calif.
Her death was ruled a homicide.
The Santa Maria Police Department launched an extensive investigation at the time, collecting numerous pieces of evidence. Despite those efforts, the case went cold in 1989.
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In the early 2000s, the California Department of Justice developed a DNA profile of an unknown man from evidence collected during Sandoval’s autopsy. However, the profile did not match any known individuals or entries in the national DNA database.
Authorities say the case remained open, with multiple detectives revisiting the evidence over the years. In 2018, the FBI partnered with Santa Maria police to obtain a covert DNA sample from James. In 2023, the Department of Justice confirmed that the DNA profile developed from the 1988 evidence matched James.
At the time of the arrest, James was living in Gainesville. On April 16, 2024, Santa Maria detectives, along with the FBI, the Hall County Sheriff’s Office SWAT Team, and the Gainesville Police Department, served an arrest warrant at his Gainesville home.
James, who had been a Santa Maria resident at the time of the killing, was arrested and booked into the Hall County Jail without bond before being extradited to California to face charges.
Prosecutors say the guilty verdict marks the culmination of nearly 38 years of investigative work.
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James now faces a sentence of life without the possibility of parole. Sentencing is scheduled for April 14.
Investigators have previously said they believe there may be additional victims connected to James involving threats, sexual assault, domestic abuse, or other crimes. Authorities have encouraged anyone with information to contact the Santa Maria Police Department.
The conviction closes one of Santa Maria’s longest-running cold cases and brings long-awaited justice in the 1988 murder of Ofelia Sandoval.