Convicted sex offender charged in 1994 cold case kidnapping
For release on January 17, 2023
CONTACT:
Rob Baker
Deputy District Attorney
(408) 792-2873
[email protected]
Convicted sex offender charged in 1994 cold case kidnapping
Photo of Thomas John Loguidice taken in 2006.
The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office has charged a 65-year-old man for his attack on a mall manager more than two decades ago.
The DA’s Cold Case Unit discovered that DNA collected from the 1994 crime scene matched an offender profile in the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). That profile belonged to Thomas John Loguidice, who was in CODIS after being convicted in 2012 of the sexual abuse of a child in San Benito County. He is currently serving a 40-year sentence for that case in the California Department of Corrections.
On December 14, 2022, the Santa Clara County Grand Jury indicted Loguidice on one charge of kidnapping with the intent to commit robbery. The grand jury also found the crime involved the use of a deadly weapon, the threat of great bodily harm, and a high degree of callousness. The defendant will be arraigned on January 18, 2023, at 1:30 p.m. in department 26 in the Hall of Justice in San Jose. He faces life in prison on top of the sentence he is currently serving.
“We don’t forget victims and we don’t forgive violent crime,” DA Jeff Rosen said. “Our message to our community is that this Office will use advancing DNA forensics, detective work, and determination to seek justice. Our message to violent criminals is: “Don’t do it. You won’t get away with it.”
San Jose police artist sketch of the suspect in 1994 sexual assault and kidnap case.
On January 13, 1994, the 21-year-old female victim arrived at the President Tuxedo store in Oakridge Mall shortly before 10:00 a.m. where she worked as the acting manager. As the victim prepared to open the store, Loguidice entered the showroom area and forced her into the back storage room at knifepoint. There, he placed the victim on the ground, bound her wrists, and tied her to a pipe. After taking a small amount of cash from the register in the showroom, Loguidice returned to the storage area and sexually assaulted the bound and restrained woman before fleeing on foot. The San Jose Police Department exhausted several leads, and the case eventually went cold.
Loguidice was not indicted for the sexual assault because the statute of limitations for that crime expired in 2000.
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