In 1980, a 79-year-old woman was murdered in her Anaheim, California, apartment. She was found naked on her bed with legs spread apart and a pillowcase stuffed into her mouth. She had bruises on her body and bite marks on her lower chest and thigh. An autopsy revealed two broken ribs and tears to her vagina. She appeared to have been violently raped. The cause of death was listed as asphyxia. Vaginal swabs were subsequently taken and the resulting sexual assault “rape kit” was booked into evidence. No suspects were identified at the time as the case went cold.  

Then in 2002, the victim’s rape kit was retrieved from the Orange County Crime Lab by a forensic scientist, who extracted DNA from the victim’s vaginal swabs, creating a male DNA profile. Advances in DNA technology over the subsequent years enabled forensic scientists to further identify more genetic markers from the extracted cells.  

Finally, in 2020, cold case investigator Detective Julissa Trapp of the Anaheim Police Department was assigned to the case. Collaborating with the FBI, Detective Trapp had the unknown DNA profile sent to a private company (“DNA Solutions”) that was able to generate a “single nucleotide polymorphism” profile. (Author’s note: An SNP is defined as “A DNA sequence variation that occurs when a single nucleotide [adenine, thymine, cytosine, or guanine] in the genome sequence is altered and the particular alteration is present in at least 1% of the population.” It still makes no sense to me, but I added this for those of you who are into this stuff.)   

The digitized genetic data was then uploaded to something referred to a free genealogy website where an investigator may upload digitized genetic data in an attempt to find a match. This resulted in a DNA hit in 2021, with the FBI notifying Detective Trapp that Andre William Lepere had been identified as “a person of interest” (this term not being defined. See Note, below.) Some intense computer work by Detective Trapp located defendant as a resident of Alamogordo, New Mexico, at least as of 2021.  

Detective Trapp sought the assistance of Agent Eric Marrujo of the New Mexico State Police. Further investigation established some 1980 ties that the defendant had to the Anaheim area where the victim lived. First, it was shown that the defendant had been arrested in 1973 in Anaheim, when he listed his address as an apartment within three apartment complexes of where the victim lived. Also, it was noted that defendant’s mother had died in a car accident in 1982, and her address was in the same apartment complex where the victim lived. It was further established that the defendant had a rap sheet which included an arrest for attempted murder.  

Based upon this information, Agent Marrujo sought a search warrant for the defendant’s trash, with the idea that items might be recovered with the defendant’s DNA. In the warrant affidavit, Agent Marrujo concluded that Anaheim PD “Detective Trapp believes Andre Lepere is a suspect in the murder [of the victim] and a DNA sample needs to be collected from [Lepere] to compare his DNA to the profile from the victim’s vaginal swabs.”  

A New Mexico magistrate authorized the warrant which resulted in the recovery of beer cans and other items from the defendant’s outside trash can. The defendant’s DNA was found on one of the beer cans, and it was later found to match the DNA profile obtained from the 1980 Anaheim murder victim. The defendant was therefore arrested and extradited to California, where he was charged in state court with a special circumstance murder.  

Pretrial, the defendant filed a motion to suppress the evidence recovered as a result of the search warrant. His motion was denied – and with certain incriminating admissions he made upon being arrested introduced into evidence along with the DNA evidence – a jury found him guilty of murder and that the murder was committed during the commission of a rape. The trial court imposed a mandatory sentence of life without the possibility of parole (LWOP). The defendant appealed.