Jogger found dead with rope around neck in 1990, CA cops say. Suspect now identified
More than three decades after a jogger was found dead in a California park, the suspected killer has been identified, police say.
Through DNA evidence, officials identified Jon Lipari, who died by suicide in 2024, as a suspect in the 1990 rape and killing of Maria Weidhofer, the East Bay Regional Park District Police Department said in a Feb. 19 news release shared on Facebook.
The “avid jogger,” who was reported missing the night before her body was discovered, was found dead with a rope around her neck in Tilden Regional Park on a trail near Inspiration Point on Nov. 16, 1990, police said.
Her body also showed “physical signs of a struggle,” police said.
Through an autopsy, investigators determined Weidhofer died from “asphyxia by ligature strangulation,” police said.
Despite initial investigation from 1990 to 1991, police said they did not identify a suspect at the time.
DNA evidence from Weidhofer’s body was sent for analysis in 1997, police said. The DNA profile created from the evidence was later entered into the Combined DNA Index System.
Police said their investigators partnered with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2020 to further the investigation using “advanced DNA techniques.”
In doing so, investigators identified Lipari, of Golden Beach, Oregon, as a potential suspect in 2024, and investigators from multiple agencies spent “hundreds of hours” further investigating the case, according to police.
Lipari was found dead inside his home in early November, police said.
Investigators collected DNA from the scene, compared it to the DNA profile from Weidhofer’s case and found it was a match, according to police.
Police said there are no signs that Weidhofer and Lipari knew one another.
“We hope that today’s development brings some measure of closure to the family, who have shown tremendous strength throughout this difficult time,” Chief Roberto Filice said in the release. “This breakthrough comes after years of relentless investigation.”
Tilden Regional Park is about a 20-mile drive northeast from San Francisco.
This story was originally published February 19, 2025 at 4:51 PM with the headline "Jogger found dead with rope around neck in 1990, CA cops say. Suspect now identified."
