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Ohio Man Arrested In 1978 Murder Of Los Angeles Business Executive

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — Los Angeles police detectives have arrested an Ohio man in connection with a 33-year-old cold case murder.

Walter Randolph Peartree, 62, was arrested in Delaware, Ohio on Saturday, Aug. 8. on a murder warrant out of Los Angeles County, the Los Angeles Police Department said in a statement.

According to the release, Ohio police had been helping Los Angeles cold case detectives investigate the murder of 52-year-old James Gentry. Gentry, a business executive, was found fatally stabbed in his Westside home on April 10, 1978.

James Gentry
(credit: Los Angeles Police Dept.)

Cold case detectives linked evidence from Gentry's murder to Peartree with the use of new technology not available in 1978.

No extradition date has been set for Peartree.

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