Man indicted on murder charge 42 years after his ex-girlfriend disappeared
A 72-year-old man was indicted on a murder charge after new DNA evidence in a decades-old missing person investigation identified the remains of his former girlfriend.
Teresa Peroni was 27 when she disappeared July 3, 1983, in Selma, Oregon, according to a profile for her in the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.
“Following an argument over Peroni having another lover, Peroni and boyfriend went into the woods at 1270 Illinois River Rd,” the profile said. “Peroni never returns.”
An investigation was opened not long after she was last seen when her family reported her missing, the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office said. She was dating a man two years older than her named Mark Sanfratello, the office said.
There was never any probable cause to file charges in the case, and, at the time, no body was found. In a news release last week, the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office said it had reopened the investigation last year.
“The sheriff’s office started by looking for any known individuals still alive that had some type of involvement with the cold case and knew details of the initial Peroni investigation,” the sheriff’s office said.
Investigators collected additional DNA samples that were sent to the University of North Texas, where a human skull found in the 1990s had been sent. The skull was in the area where Peroni disappeared, but no other remains were ever found despite a search of the area with cadaver dogs.
The investigative partners at the University of North Texas were able to use the additional DNA to confirm the skull was Peroni’s.
A grand jury indicted Sanfratello on a charge of murder Friday after it was presented with the new DNA evidence and the investigation, the sheriff’s office said.
Police in Chico, California, detained and questioned Sanfratello on Saturday. Court records show he had a hearing Thursday in Butte County, where it appears an extradition waiver was filed.
A public defender appointed to Sanfratello’s case in California did not immediately respond to request for comment. Inmate records show he was in custody at the Butte County Jail on Thursday afternoon.