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Oregon Man Gets 20 Years In 1983 Girlfriend Killing Cold Case
An Oregon man was sentenced to 20 years in prison for killing his then-girlfriend in a 1983 cold case. Prosecutors pursued the case decades after the death, culminating in his conviction and the 20-year prison term.
Authorities said the resolution highlights efforts to revisit unsolved violent crimes from the 1980s. Those reviews often rely on preserved evidence and modern forensic tools that were not available at the time of the killing.
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đ Key Facts
- Defendant Marcus Sanfratello, 73, pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter and received a 20-year sentence with a minimum of 10 years served
- Victim Teresa Peroni disappeared in 1983 at age 27 after a party near Selma, Oregon, and was last seen walking into the woods with Sanfratello
- A skull found in 1997 was only recently identified as Peroni's after the case was reopened in 2024 and new DNA testing was performed
- Sanfratello was arrested in Chico, California, in 2025 and initially indicted on second-degree murder before the plea deal
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