Mar. 30, 2026 8:15p; Updated at 10p with information from the Kenosha County District Attorney; Updated 3-31
(WGTD)---DNA recovered from beneath the fingernails of a 1977 Kenosha murder victim led to an arrest Monday.
James Terry Fowler, who was a 19 year-old recruit at the nearby Great Lakes Naval Training Center in 1977, was arrested in Memphis, Tennessee.
The victim-- 48 year-old Ralph Gianoli--was strangled and beaten to death in his Columbus Park neighborhood home. The American Motors employee was found in the living room with an electrical cord tied around his neck. A friend who had become concerned over his absence made the discovery.
The case remained unsolved until cold case detectives at the Kenosha Police Dept. reopened the file five years ago. They were aided by state and federal agents and the Wisconsin State Crime Lab.
Advanced DNA testing and genetic genealogy led to Fowler.
Along the way, investigators learned that Fowler had served a prison sentence in the 1980s for killing his wheelchair-bound father with whom he lived.
The criminal complaint filed against Fowler describes in detail attempts by detectives to question him about the murder. At times, Fowler was non-sensical and non-responsive, although he admitted to having been in Kenosha where he had a "bad day."
It's believed that Fowler met Gianoli at a bar. At a news conference Tuesday, police did not speculate on a possible motive.
A niece of Fowler said at the news conference that she and other family members are grateful for the police department's persistence in trying to solve the case. "To say that we are overwhelmed is an understatement and overjoyed with the news that we received yesterday," she said.
-0-