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Ex-trucker awaiting trial in North Carolina murder is charged with suspected serial killings in California

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Ex-trucker awaiting trial in North Carolina murder is charged with suspected serial killings in California


A former long-haul trucker awaiting trial in the 1992 murder of a North Carolina woman was charged in the suspected serial killings of three more women in California more than four decades ago, authorities said Thursday.

Warren Luther Alexander, 73, was charged with three counts of murder in connection with the 1977 strangulation deaths of Kimberly Fritz, 18; Velvet Sanchez, 31; and Lorraine Rodriguez, 21, law enforcement officials said at a news conference in Ventura County.

The women, all sex workers, were found dead in Port Hueneme, Oxnard and an unincorporated part of Ventura County, respectively, in May, September and December of that year, officials said.

Warren Luther Alexander, 73, is escorted away from an airplane by police in Southern Calif., on Friday.Ventura County District Attorney’s Office via Facebook

Alexander, who is being held without bail at a Ventura County jail, was extradited earlier this week from North Carolina, where he was charged with murder two years ago in the strangulation death of Nona Cobb, Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko told reporters.

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Cobb, 29, was found dead on an interstate northwest of Winston-Salem on July 7, 1992, according to the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation.

Her autopsy showed that she had been strangled, according to NBC affiliate WXII-TV of Winston-Salem.

warren luther alexander murder victim Nona Cobb
Nona Cobb.Ventura County District Attorney’s Office via Facebook

Alexander was arrested in connection with the killing on March 15, 2022, in Diamondhead, Mississippi, the bureau said in a news release at the time.

Court records for Alexander’s case in North Carolina were unavailable Friday night and it isn’t clear if he has entered a plea or who is defending him.

Alexander is scheduled to be arraigned on the California charges on Aug. 21, court records show. A lawyer for Alexander did not respond to a request for comment Friday night.

Nasarenko said authorities in North Carolina used genetic genealogy, a technique that matches DNA obtained from crime scenes and elsewhere to profiles assembled by genetic testing companies, to link Alexander with Cobb’s killing.

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After Alexander’s 2022 arrest, his DNA was uploaded to a nationwide law enforcement database and authorities in Ventura County were alerted to the case, Nasarenko said.

In 2006, investigators in the county had uploaded DNA preserved from the 1977 crime scenes to the same database, Nasarenko said, but it wasn’t until after Alexander’s arrest that his DNA entered the database and there was a match.

“Today marks the first crucial step toward achieving long-awaited justice,” the prosecutor said.

Alexander lived in Oxnard, roughly 60 miles northwest of Los Angeles, in the 1950s and 1960s while attending school, Nasarenko said. He returned there in the 1970s and worked as a long haul-trucker for the next three decades, the district attorney added.

Detectives who investigated the cases initially suspected the same suspect was responsible for the series of killings, he said, but they exhausted their leads and the cases went cold.

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Authorities are now working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation through its Highway Serial Killings Initiative to help identify other potential victims linked to Alexander, Nasarenko said.

Authorities believe there may be others locally and in other states, he said.

“This is not in any way closed,” Nasarenko said.



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2026 primary turnout report released for eastern NC counties; see your county’s numbers

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2026 primary turnout report released for eastern NC counties; see your county’s numbers


Here are the voter turnout numbers for the 2026 primary election, according to the North Carolina State Board of Elections.

Hyde County had the highest voter turnout, while Onslow County had the lowest turnout. Check out what the voter turnout in your county was below:

BERTIE COUNTY

Ballots Cast:

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31.85% (3,911 out of 12,280)

CARTERET COUNTY

Ballots Cast:

29.06% (16,543 out of 56,931)

CRAVEN COUNTY

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Ballots Cast:

18.63% (14,119 out of 75,778)

DUPLIN COUNTY

Ballots Cast:

21.93% (6,981 out of 31,832)

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EDGECOMBE COUNTY

Ballots Cast:

18.16% (6,428 out of 35,396)

GREENE COUNTY

Ballots Cast:

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19.70% (2,147 out of 10,900)

HYDE COUNTY

Ballots Cast:

37.27% (1,123 out of 3,013)

JONES COUNTY

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Ballots Cast:

25.91% (1,805 out of 6,966)

LENOIR COUNTY

Ballots Cast:

16.73% (6,251 out of 37,371)

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MARTIN COUNTY

Ballots Cast:

17.61% (2,858 out of 16,228)

ONSLOW COUNTY

Ballots Cast:

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11.44% (14,816 out of 129,537)

PAMLICO COUNTY

Ballots Cast:

24.03% (2,446 out of 10,180)

PITT COUNTY

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Ballots Cast:

15.71% (19,429 out of 123,705)

TYRRELL COUNTY

Ballots Cast:

30.49% (723 out of 2,371)

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WASHINGTON COUNTY

Ballots Cast:

28.66% (2,312 out of 8,067)

WAYNE COUNTY

Ballots Cast:

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21.49% (16,408 out of 76,358)



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Statewide tornado drill has NC schools and workplaces practicing safety

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Statewide tornado drill has NC schools and workplaces practicing safety


Wednesday, March 4, 2026 6:41PM

NC schools and businesses encouraged to practice tornado safety

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — North Carolina schools and businesses took part in a statewide tornado drill Wednesday morning as part of Severe Weather Awareness Week.

The National Weather Service led the drill at 9:30 a.m., broadcasting it on NOAA Weather Radio and the Emergency Alert System. Schools, workplaces and households across the state were encouraged to join in.

The National Weather Service didn’t issue a follow up alert to mark the end of the drill. Instead, each school or business wrapped up once they felt they had practiced the procedures thoroughly.

Wednesday’s drill also replaced the regular weekly NOAA Weather Radio test.

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SEE | New warning for parents amid new ‘fire-breathing’ social media trend

Make sure to download the ABC 11 Mobile App ABC11 North Carolina Apps for Connected TV, Mobile News, Echo

Copyright © 2026 WTVD-TV. All Rights Reserved.



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North Carolina Rep. Valerie Foushee holds narrow lead over challenger Nida Allam

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North Carolina Rep. Valerie Foushee holds narrow lead over challenger Nida Allam


Nida Allam in 2022; Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-NC) in 2025.

Jonathan Drake/Reuters; Andrew Harnik/Getty Images


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Jonathan Drake/Reuters; Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Incumbent Rep. Valerie Foushee holds a narrow lead over challenger Nida Allam in the Democratic primary for North Carolina’s 4th Congressional district as ballots continue to be counted.

In a race seen as an early test of whether Democratic voters desire generational change within the party, Foushee holds a lead of just over 1,000 votes with 99% of results in so far, according to the Associated Press.

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Under state law, provisional votes will be counted in the coming days in a district that includes Durham and Chapel Hill. If the election results end up within a 1% margin, Allam could request a recount.

Successfully ousting an incumbent lawmaker is often extremely difficult and rare. However, there have been recent upsets in races as some voters are calling for new leaders and several sitting members of Congress face primary challengers this cycle.

Allam, a 32-year-old Durham County Commissioner, is running to the left of Foushee, 69, framing her candidacy as part of a broader rejection of longtime Democratic norms.

On the campaign trail, Allam ran on an anti-establishment message, pledging to be a stronger fighter than Foushee in Congress, both in standing up against President Trump’s agenda and when pushing for more ambitious policy.

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“North Carolina is a purple state that often gets labeled red, but we’re not a red state,” she told NPR in an interview last month, emphasizing the need to address affordability concerns. “We are a state of working-class folks who just want their elected officials to champion the issues that are impacting them.”

She drew a contrast with the congresswoman on immigration, voicing support for abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Foushee has declined to go that far, advocating instead for ICE to be defunded and for broader reforms to the federal immigration system.

Allam also clashed with Foushee over U.S. policy towards Israel. As a vocal opponent of Israel’s war in Gaza, Allam swore off campaign donations from pro-Israel lobbying groups, such as AIPAC, and repeatedly criticized Foushee for previously accepting such funds.

Though Foushee announced last year that she would not accept AIPAC donations this cycle, she and Allam continued to spar over the broader role of outside spending in the race.

Their matchup comes four years after the candidates first squared off in 2022, when Allam lost to Foushee in what became the most expensive primary in the state’s history, with outside groups spending more than $3.8 million.

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However, this year is poised to break that record. Outside groups have reported spending more than $4.4 million on the primary matchup, according to Federal Election Commission filings.

WUNC’s Colin Campbell contributed to this report.



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