Suspect identified in 35-year-old Tilden Park cold case murder of woman
By KGO Staff
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BERKELEY, California (KGO) — Police announced they’ve identified a suspect in the Nov. 1990 sexual assault and murder of Maria Weidhofer in Berkeley’s Tilden Regional Park.
The East Bay Regional Park District Police Department says that evidence collected from Jon Lipari, who died by suicide in Oregon in Nov. 2024, was linked to the victim.
Weidhofer was found dead on Nov. 16, 1990 on a trail near Inspiration Point in Tilden Regional Park. Police say she was found with rope around her neck and with physical signs of a struggle after she had been reported missing the night before.
An autopsy found that her cause of death was asphyxia by ligature strangulation and found a multitude of minor abrasions and contusions on her body. After a lengthy investigation conducted in 1990-1991, a suspect was not identified.
In 1997, biological evidence found on Weidhofer from the suspect was analyzed and submitted to the Combined DNA Index System. Through the use of advanced DNA techniques, Lipari was determined to be a potential suspect and became the primary suspect in 2024.
Police say there’s no indication there was any previous contact between Weidhofer and Lipari.
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