72-year-old man accused of killing girlfriend who disappeared nearly 42 years ago

JOSEPHINE COUNTY, Ore. (TCN) — Investigators recently identified a 72-year-old suspect in the cold case death of a woman who vanished more than four decades ago.

According to the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office, 27-year-old Teresa Peroni was last seen in July 1983 with her boyfriend, Mark Sanfratello, who was 29 at the time. They were reportedly walking into a wooded area during a party on Illinois River Road.

Shortly after, Peroni’s family reported her missing, and investigators deemed her disappearance “suspicious in nature.” Despite the investigation, no arrests were made at the time, and the case went cold.

Over a decade later, in 1997, individuals found a human skull on a nearby property, but officials were unable to locate any other remains. The skull was submitted for DNA testing through the University of North Texas.

The sheriff’s office reopened the investigation in February 2024 with assistance from the Oregon Department of Justice, the Josephine County District Attorney’s Office, and the Chico Police Department in California. Officials collected and sent additional DNA for testing and identified the skull found in 1997 to be that of Peroni.

Upon further investigation and DNA analysis, a jury indicted Sanfratello on June 27 on a charge of murder. Chico Police arrested him the following day. Sanfratello remains in custody in California but will be extradited back to Oregon.

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