SANTA ROSA (KRON) — Authorities in Southern California say they may have solved a 41-year-old mystery when they arrested a Santa Rosa man, charging him with the murder of a woman in La Palma back in 1974.
On Monday, authorities from Orange County arrested 65-year old Larry Stephens at him home at the Sequoia Gardens Mobile Home Park, charging him with the murder of 30-year-old Patricia Ross. If he’s convicted, he could spend the rest of his life in prison.
Ross was found strangled inside her house in La Palma. Until this past March, her death had remained a mystery.
In March, Stephens was arrested on domestic abuse charges in Sonoma County. A DNA sample taken from him matched DNA found at the murder scene.
News of his arrest has stunned residents at the mobile home community. One woman who lives down the street from Stephens said, “that devastates me to tell you the truth. To think that I have a neighbor who would do something like that. It bothers me that there would be someone in the park who is involved in domestic violence, actually. so that disturbs me too.”
Stephens is being held at the Sonoma County Detention Center, but is expected to be transferred to Orange County where he will be tried for murder.