another cold case solved. 81 year old murdered a woman 44 years ago.

John Mays talks on Thursday about his sister Helen Terry, who was stabbed to death in 1980, after suspect Robert Terry was arraigned in Sacramento Superior Court for her August 1980 murder. Paul Kitagaki Jr. pkitagaki@sacbee.com




Helen Terry lived a gentle and kind life. She served her country in the military and worked hard after leaving the service to raise her baby, her family said. That makes it unimaginable for family to reckon with her brutal end on Aug. 28, 1980.

Terry desperately fought her assailant at her apartment in Sacramento’s Valley Hi / North Laguna neighborhood, police theorized at the time. Furniture overturned and blood was spattered while her baby watched his mother suffer 13 stab wounds during the assault, according to The Sacramento Bee’s previous reporting. A suspect had scrawled a racial slur over the bathroom door and vanity mirror, authorities said. Terry was Black.

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Mays spoke Thursday outside downtown Sacramento County Main Jail after attending the arraignment of Terry’s alleged killer: her husband, Robert Lee Terry. He was arrested last week after the investigation languished for 44 years, the Sacramento Police Department said in a news release Wednesday announcing the arrest. “We want him to suffer as much as we have for the past 44 years,” Mays said.

Robert Terry, 81, appeared hunched over in a wheelchair as his attorney entered a plea of not guilty during his arraignment on a murder charge in Sacramento Superior Court. Terry spoke clearly when Judge John P. Winn asked if he would hire an attorney. “My wife is taking care of the amount,” Terry responded. The Rancho Cordova resident was wheeled away by a deputy and is scheduled to return Oct. 17 for another court hearing.

Read more at: https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/crime/article293444149.html#storylink=cpy