Nearly three decades after she was brutally murdered in her East San Jose home, Alice Sharitz may have finally found justice.
San Jose police reported today that advanced DNA testing of evidence from the crime scene where the 84-year-old murder victim lived alone enabled cold case detectives to identify a suspect in October 2024, leading to his arrest in Oregon.
Alice Sharitz was murdered in 1997 in San Jose. San Jose Police photo.
In 2021, a male DNA profile developed from the DNA collected from the crime scene was submitted for advanced forensic genetic genealogy analysis, San Jose police reported today. In October 2024, the sample identified Joe Contreras, now 74 years old, as a potential source of the DNA.
In December 2024, with the assistance of police in the small western Oregon city of Dallas, a DNA sample was obtained from Contreras, and in February 2025, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Crime Lab confirmed the DNA profile from the crime scene matched that of Contreras.
Following the DNA confirmation, San José Police detectives, along with an investigator from the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office Cold Case Unit, traveled to Dallas, Oregon. Contreras was extensively interviewed and Detectives determined Contreras was responsible for the death of Ms. Sharitz.
Detectives obtained a warrant for Contreras' arrest and he was safely taken into custody by the Dallas Police Department on Dec.19. On Jan.6, Contreras was extradited back to San José where he was subsequently booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail for murder.
On Oct. 6, 1997, at approximately 12:25pm, San José police officers responded to a report of a deceased person inside an apartment in the 40 Block of N. Jackson Avenue. Officers located the body of 84-year-old Alice Sharitz, who lived alone, lying on the living room floor. A wooden-handled knife was embedded in her chest, and she had visible abrasions on both knees, according to police.
The homicide was reported by a neighbor who came to Sharitz’s apartment to deliver a card. Finding the front door ajar, he looked inside, saw her on the floor, and immediately called 911.
An autopsy revealed Sharitz suffered two stab wounds to the chest, multiple fractures, injuries to the neck, and numerous facial abrasions. The cause of death was determined to be multiple traumatic injuries.
While processing the scene, investigators collected DNA, preserving it as potential evidence. Despite exhaustive investigative efforts at the time, the case went cold.
“Time does not erase responsibility,” said San José Police Chief Paul Joseph in a statement. “And thanks to the relentless work of our Homicide Unit and the District Attorney’s Cold Case Unit, it never will.”
“A team of resolute and creative investigators just solved the 28-year-old murder of a senior citizen," said Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen. “Justice for Alice Sharitz and her loved ones was long in coming, but it is here. It took DNA. It took genealogy. And it took the mindset of the SJPD and the DA’s Cold Case Unit to never give up on a victim, ever.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Sergeant Martinez #3934, or Detective Jize #4324 of the San José Police Department’s Homicide Unit at 408-277-5283.
