It was a shocking murder which occurred in Ventura County more than three decades ago. Now, detectives say they’ve finally solved the cold case.
In July of 1991, Danielle Clause was sexually assaulted and murdered. The 42-year-old woman’s body was found on a hillside near Tioga Drive, in the hills northeast of Ventura City Hall.
Detectives worked on the case for years without success, but it finally ended up in the cold case file.
In 2021, investigators retested some of the crime scene evidence for DNA. They say it led them to a man named Larry Welch, who they positively identified as a suspect. He died in 1999.
There was no known link between the victim and suspect.
Ventura Police officials say they are glad they can finally close the books on the 1991 murder. They say they have more than two dozen other cold cases they are still working on, ranging from unsolved murders to still unidentified bodies.
