Laurie Houts 1992

[cranefly]

Mountain View police have made an arrest in the connection with the death of Laurie Houts, who was found strangled to death 30 years ago.

This is a bit unusual, but I'm posting about Laurie's death that happened back when I was working at Control Data.  I was a software engineer, and Laurie Houts was in documentation.  We did not cross paths often, but she was best friends with some of my best friends.

I attended both trials back in 1992.  In both cases the jurors could not reach a verdict.  There were various reasons.  For one, Kevin had the best lawyer in San Francisco, and the district attorney was totally outclassed (and probably should have retired).  For another, the Mountain View Police made numerous mistakes in gathering/preserving forensic data.

Kevin went to Europe after the trials, and I lost track of him.  I hadn't realized he was back in the area.  I sure didn't know how successful he'd been.

Of course, this will not bring Laurie back.  But it offers some small degree of closure, so I'm posting this here.

https://www.ktvu.com/news/tech-ceo-arres...-cold-case

[Drunk Monk]

Wow. I remember you telling me about this incident. Glad there's some closure.

[cranefly]

It seems he had been living over in Europe all this time--and very successfully, now a CEO.  But then the DA here got a tip that he would be arriving in NYC at a certain time.  They were waiting for him.

I don't know if he was aware that forensic techniques had improved enough to reopen the case or whether he was taken by surprise.

The concern among my CDC friends remains that he has the funds to once more game the system.