Police say preserved evidence and modern DNA testing led to an arrest nearly five decades after Ralph Gianoli was found dead.
KENOSHA, WI — Kenosha police say DNA evidence has helped solve one of the city’s oldest homicide cases, leading to the arrest of a 68-year-old Tennessee man in the 1977 killing of Ralph Ambrose Gianoli, who was found dead in his home nearly 49 years ago.
The arrest marks a major turn in a case that had sat unsolved since Sept. 7, 1977, when officers found Gianoli, 48, dead inside his house at 5310 25th Ave. Prosecutors have charged James Terry Fowler with first-degree homicide. Investigators say the break came after the city’s Cold Case Unit reopened the file, reexamined evidence and used new forensic testing to build a DNA profile from material preserved under Gianoli’s fingernails.
Police said Gianoli, a Kenosha factory worker who had worked at the former American Motors plant, was discovered in his living room after he had not been heard from for several days. Court records and police statements describe a violent scene. Investigators said an electrical cord was tied around his neck, and the room showed signs of a struggle, including blood spatter, broken bottles and overturned furniture. An autopsy later found that Gianoli died from asphyxiation by strangulation, with blunt force trauma to the head and abdomen also contributing to his death. The killing stunned the neighborhood near 25th Avenue and 53rd Street, but the case soon stalled. Detectives chased leads for years and stored physical evidence, even as the trail grew cold and the original investigators aged or retired.
The case was reopened in October 2021 by the Kenosha Police Department’s Cold Case Unit. Police Chief Patrick Patton said detectives reviewed the original file, interviewed previous investigators, identified possible new suspects and worked with state and federal partners to take another look at the evidence. In 2022 and 2023, investigators used advanced testing on Gianoli’s fingernail clippings, which Patton said allowed the Wisconsin State Crime Lab to develop a partial DNA profile from an unknown male. Police then used genetic genealogy and other background work to narrow the search. Investigators said that effort pointed to Fowler, who would have been 19 in September 1977 and was then completing recruit training at Great Lakes Naval Station in Illinois, roughly 20 miles from Kenosha. Authorities said a later DNA comparison matched Fowler to the profile taken from the evidence. Capt. James Beller said investigators interviewed Fowler in 2025, but he gave few details.
The new arrest gives Kenosha police a rare resolution in a homicide case from the 1970s, a period when biological evidence was often collected but could not be fully analyzed with the tools available at the time. In this case, detectives said the preservation of fingernail evidence proved critical. Family members said the break came after decades of uncertainty. Carla Gianoli-Smith, speaking for Gianoli’s surviving nieces and nephews, told reporters that the family was overwhelmed and grateful that investigators kept working the case even after warning them it might never be solved. Police said the motive remains unknown, and investigators do not yet have a clear public explanation of why Gianoli was targeted. Beller said detectives believe Gianoli and Fowler likely met earlier the same night, but he said the exact nature of that contact is still not clear.
Investigators and prosecutors have also outlined the procedural path that led to the arrest. Police said Fowler was located in Memphis, Tennessee, where they obtained DNA swabs and fingerprint evidence through legal process. Authorities said the Wisconsin State Crime Lab later confirmed that the DNA from beneath Gianoli’s fingernails was consistent with Fowler. At Tuesday’s briefing, officials said Fowler was arrested Monday, March 30, in Memphis and is being held there while Wisconsin seeks his extradition. Kenosha County District Attorney Xavier Solis said a criminal complaint charging first-degree homicide has been filed. Officials said they were not identifying a defense attorney for Fowler as of Tuesday. Police also said background research showed Fowler was later convicted in Alabama in the 1983 killing of his father, though that conviction was later reduced to manslaughter. Investigators cited that history as part of their broader effort to track his movements over the years.
Tuesday’s announcement at the Kenosha Public Museum mixed formal police detail with visible emotion from relatives who had waited most of their lives for movement in the case. Gianoli-Smith said the moment was both joyful and painful because Gianoli’s siblings did not live long enough to see an arrest. Patton told the family and the public that “no victim is forgotten,” casting the case as proof that old evidence can still matter when departments keep working it. Beller, answering questions about the suspect interview, said Fowler at times appeared confused and “didn’t give us a lot of details.” Even so, officials described the evidence as strong enough to support charges and an arrest warrant. For a case that began in a living room in 1977, the answer finally came through a mix of stored evidence, patient review and science that did not exist when Gianoli was killed.
The case now turns to extradition and a first court appearance in Wisconsin. Police said the motive is still under investigation, and the next public milestone is Fowler’s transfer to Kenosha County to face the homicide charge.
Author note: Last updated March 31, 2026.