Nearly five decades after a nude man was found beaten and strangled to death with an electrical cord at his Wisconsin home, police say a suspect is finally in custody.
James Terry Fowler, 68, was arrested on Monday in connection with the 1977 killing of 48-year-old Ralph Ambrose Gianoli, marking a major breakthrough in one of the city’s oldest unsolved homicides.
The Kenosha Police Department announced Monday that Fowler was taken into custody in Memphis, Tennessee, and charged with one count of first-degree homicide.
Gianoli, 48, was found dead on September 7, 1977, inside his Kenosha home at 5310 25th Avenue. Police said Gianoli had been badly beaten and strangled with an electrical cord. He was found nude, with the cord still around his neck, police said.
An autopsy later determined that Gianoli died from blunt force trauma to the head and abdomen.
Police believe the killing occurred sometime between September 5 and September 7, 1977.
A friend who discovered Gianoli’s body had last seen him two days earlier at a local bar, Kenosha County Eye reported. Neighbors later told police they heard a car door slam and a vehicle speed away on the night of September 6, 1977.
Investigators at the time found signs of a violent struggle inside the home. Blood was found in both the bedroom and living room, and on the outside of the front door.
Gianoli, who worked at American Motors, had a brother, Louis F. Gianoli, who was Marathon County sheriff at the time, the Kenosha County Eye reported. His family remained in contact with investigators for years, but no arrests were made and the case went cold.
Then in October 2021, the Kenosha Police Department Cold Case Unit reopened the case. Detectives reviewed the original case file, interviewed past investigators, pursued new leads and reexamined evidence retained from the initial investigation.
The next year, Kenosha detectives partnered with the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation, the FBI and other agencies to apply advanced evidence-processing techniques.
According to investigators, the evidence recovered during the renewed review was further analyzed, ultimately pointing to Fowler, who was later interviewed.
Police said probable cause was established, and Kenosha detectives coordinated with authorities in Tennessee to arrest Fowler on Monday in Memphis, Tennessee.
Investigators are expected to release additional details at a news conference on Tuesday.
