A high-flying Silicon Valley tech CEO has been arrested and charged in the three-decade-old love triangle murder of his former roommate’s girlfriend.
Cops say John Woodward — president and CEO of Readytech — was arrested last Saturday at New York’s JFK Airport for the Sept. 5, 1992 murder of Laurie Houts, 25.
According to the Santa Clara District Attorney’s Office, Woodward was deeply in love with Houts despite the fact she was hooked up with his roommate. And cops say he was jealous. Very.
From the beginning, detectives said that Woodward was their prime suspect even though he had moved to the Netherlands but there was a lack of evidence. Two trials ended with hung juries.
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But investigators never forgot the case.
Woodward, for his part, never made a secret about being jealous of Houts, a computer engineer, and her relationship with his roomie. He also lacked an alibi.
And when his roommate was wired up, Woodward asked what the cops knew. The roommate had asked if he murdered Houts.
Her body was discovered in her parked car with a rope around her neck and Woodward’s prints were on the outside of the vehicle. But cops could never put him inside until three decades later.
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Not only did new testing revealing that he was inside the vehicle, Woodward was linked to the murder weapon via DNA.
The New York Post reports that Woodward has now been charged with murder by strangulation and is awaiting extradition to California in a Big Apple jail cell. He faces life in prison if convicted.
“I want Ms. Houts’ family and friends to know that we never gave up on her,” Santa Clara DA Jeff Rosen said in a statement.
“Neither time nor distance will stop us from finding out the truth and seeking justice.”
@HunterTOSun
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