Laurie Anne Houts was a 25 years old computer engineer whose body was found in her car in Mountain View Area after she was strangled to death.
Reportedly, police arrested the Readytech CEO John Kevin Woodward nearly three decades after the incident. He was taken to trial twice before, but without enough evidence, the prosecutions ended without any charges.
When the detectives started examining the case again after 30 years, new DNA technologies revealed fingerprints from Houts’ house and her car that matched Kevin’s.
Woodward was the former roommate of Houts’ boyfriend, and he is suspected of having committed the atrocious crime out of jealousy.
The Readytech CEO is under police custody and will be sentenced to life imprisonment if convicted of the murder.
Readytech CEO: John Kevin Woodward Wife – Who Is Laurie Anne Houts?
John Woodward, age 58, has been charged with the murder of his former roommate’s girlfriend, Laurie.
John allegedly had developed an unrequited romantic relationship with his roommate. He was openly jealous of his girlfriend Houts.
Houts was a computer engineer who worked at Adobe Systems in Mountain View, California.
On September 5, 1992, Laurie’s body was found in her automobile near a garbage dump in Mountain View. She was strangled to death using a rope still hanging around her neck.
The interior windshield contained footprints of the victim, which showed that she struggled against the killer.
John Kevin Woodward Kids & Family
Kevin Woodward is the CEO of an online training company, Readytech, in Oakland, California.
After his second trial, Woodward had settled in the Netherlands, where there was a branch office of Readytech. It is still unknown whether he moved there with his family and kids.
According to her family, Houts was a vibrant personality who was ahead of her time in the STEM field.
Her family said, “We are hopeful that justice can finally be served for Laurie and incredibly appreciative of the law enforcement agencies who have never given up on her.”
Laurie Anne Houts Case Update
The thirty years old case has taken a new turn, and the alleged murderer is now held in New York without bail.
The tech CEO was always the prime suspect in the case. His fingerprints were found outside of Hout’s car, but there were no technologies to analyze the DNA at that time.
The Santa Clara District Attorney opened the thirty years old case again in 2020 to serve justice to the young girl. The sophisticated DNA technologies re-examined more than 80 latent fingerprints collected from Houts’ house.
The DNA found on the rope, her house, and her car matched Woodward, and he was immediately arrested at JFK airport in New York. He had just flown from Amsterdam for his business meeting.
The Dutch authorities were granted a search warrant for the suspect’s home and office. They seized computers and USB thumb drives from Woodward’s residence.
Currently, John Woodward is awaiting his extradition to California. He is most likely to be subjected to a life sentence in prison.