Grants Pass, ore.– A man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison in Oregon for the death of his then-girlfriend in an accident A recently reopened 1980s cold caseTuesday, authorities said.
Marcos Sanfratello, 73, pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in the death of Teresa Perrone and was sentenced to 20 years in prison, including a minimum of 10 years, the Oregon Attorney General’s Office said in a statement.
Sanfratello’s defense attorney, Elizabeth Baker, said her client had a “strong drive to solve the problem” because of a diagnosis of a complex health problem.
“This decision gives the family closure while allowing my client the treatment he urgently needs,” she said in a text message, adding that he would receive treatment while serving his sentence.
Perrone disappeared in 1983 at the age of 27 after attending a party in a rural area near the small town of Selma in southern Oregon. Authorities say she was last seen walking in the woods with her boyfriend at the time, Sanfratello. Authorities investigated, but there was insufficient evidence to proceed with charges.
In 1997, a human skull was found on a nearby property and sent to the University of North Texas for examination, the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office said last year.
The Sheriff’s Office reopened the case in 2024, with investigators collecting new DNA evidence and using modern forensic testing. Through additional DNA, experts at the university were able to confirm that the skull belonged to Peroni.
Sanfratello was taken into custody last year in Chico, California, before being extradited to Oregon, where he was initially charged with a higher charge of second-degree murder.
“For Teresa Perrone’s family, this has been a 43-year wait for an answer they never had to wait for,” Oregon Attorney General Rayfield said in a statement. “Cases like this remind us why we don’t give up.”