Man sentenced to 20 years for Oregon killing of girlfriend four decades ago

A 73-year-old man was sentenced on Tuesday to 20 years in prison for the 1983 killing of his then-girlfriend. It was a case that went unsolved for more than 40 years.

The sentence was announced by Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield.

In July 1983, Teresa Peroni, 27, was reported missing after attending a party in the Selma area of Josephine County southwest of Grants Pass. She was last seen walking in the woods with her boyfriend Marcus Sanfratello.

Authorities deemed Peroni’s disappearance suspicious, but they lacked evidence to bring charges against anyone.

In 1997, a human skull was found on private property near where Peroni disappeared. In 2024, authorities in Josephine County reopened the case. In addition to re-interviewing witnesses, they collected new DNA evidence to build a case against Sanfratello.

With the DNA, experts at the University of North Texas confirmed the skull was Peroni’s.

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A grand jury indicted Sanfratello of second-degree murder, on June 27, 2025.

Police arrested Sanfratello in Chico, California the next day. He was then extradited to Oregon to face the charge of murder.

Under a plea agreement, Sanfratello pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter.

He will serve at least 10 years in prison, Oregon’s attorney general’s office said.

“For Teresa Peroni’s family, this has been a 43-year wait for an answer they never should have had to wait for,” Rayfield said in a news release. “Cases like this remind us of why we don’t give up. It doesn’t matter how many years have passed — if someone took a life, we’re going to keep working until we can hold them accountable.”