An 18-year-old rape case in San Jose has come to a close after officials said a man from Indiana pleaded guilty.
In 2008, James Whisenand broke into an elderly woman’s apartment in the Willow Glen neighborhood, punched her in the face and raped her, according to police.
Investigators didn’t have a suspect until 2024, when a crime lab matched DNA from the case to another sexual assault case in Indiana, prompting Whisenand’s arrest.
The victim died of natural causes in 2011.
“Years and distance do not matter,” Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement. “This Office will never stop seeking justice for the people who have been hurt in our community. I just wish I could have told her that we got him. I wish she was here with us today.”