33-year-old California cold case homicide solved as victim's sister says 'prayers were answered'
The sister of a woman found brutally murdered in California in 1991 says her prayers have been "answered" after investigators announced this week that they have solved the cold case homicide more than three decades later.
The Ventura Police Department says by using "advanced forensic genetic genealogy techniques," Larry Welch has been identified as the perpetrator in the killing of 42-year-old Danielle Clause, signaling a "pivotal moment in resolving this long-standing mystery."
"I remember going to see her in the mortuary, I remember she was so badly beaten that she was unrecognizable, and I didn’t want my mother to see her like that. It was just devastating, no holidays and I always prayed, not so much there would be justice, but that I would be able to know who did this," Marcie Forte, Clause’s sister, said in a video released by police.
"Thirty [three] years later, my prayers were answered. They did a phenomenal job and I am so grateful that I lived to see at least a meter of justice," she added. "That they found out who did this."
Ventura Police say Clause’s body was found on July 16, 1991, on a hillside near downtown Ventura, with an autopsy showing she had been "sexually assaulted and had died due to multiple blunt-force injuries to her head." Her husband had called to report her missing after she did not return home the night prior, investigators say.
The case went cold, but in 2021, police retested crime scene evidence for DNA.
"Forensic genetic genealogy was pursued, and a family tree was developed. Phenotyping was used to verify distinct characteristics of the suspect, and after collecting family DNA samples, Larry Welch was positively identified," Ventura Police say.
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Welch died in 1999 – eight years after the killing – and investigators say there was no known connection between him and Clause at the time of her murder.
"My sister was so much more than a victim of a brutal murder. She was an artist, a daughter, a sister, a mother, and a wife. She was a good person with a mighty soul, and she was taken way too young," Forte also said.
The Ventura Police Department says it has more than 25 cold cases still in its files, ranging from homicides to missing persons, but the "unwavering commitment to securing justice for victims and their families endures, regardless of the elapsed time."