Cold Case Homicide (Photo)
-06/30/25
RELEASE DATE: June 30, 2025
INCIDENT: Homicide- Cold Case
INCIDENT DATE: July 1983
REPORTING DEPUTY: Detective Sergeant Henrich
ARRESTED: 72-year-old, Mark Sanfratello
DETAILS: In February of 2024, the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office, with the assistance of the Oregon Department of Justice, Josephine County District Attorney’s Office and the Chico California Police Department, re-opened the investigation regarding the 1983 disappearance and murder of Teresa Peroni.
At the time,Teresa was 27 years old and was known to be in a relationship with Mark Sanfratello who was 29. On or around July 4th, 1983, Teresa was last seen with Sanfratello walking into a wooded area while attending a party in the 1000 block of Illinois River Road.
After a short time, the family of Peroni reported her missing and an investigation took place. During this initial investigation, the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office found the disappearance to be suspicious in nature. However, after the investigation with the Josephine County District Attorney's Office, in was determined that there was not enough probable cause to move forward with criminal prosecution.
In 1997, a human skull was located by individuals on a nearby property and a search took place with the use of a cadaver dog and search personnel. No other human remains were located and the skull was sent for examination and DNA testing through the University of North Texas (UNT).
In 2024, the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office re-opened the investigation. The Sheriff’s Office started by looking for any known individuals still alive that had some type of involvement with the cold case and knew details of the initial Peroni investigation. Additional DNA was collected and submitted to UNT. With the additional DNA, UNT was able to confirm the skull located in 1997 was that of Peroni.
On June 27th, 2025, after locating multiple individuals associated with Peroni, DNA results and the original case/investigation, a Josephine County Grand Jury indicted Sanfratello on the charge of Murder.
On June 28th, 2025, with the assistance of The Chico Police Department, Sanfratello was located and taken into custody without incident. Subsequently, he was questioned regarding his involvement with the disappearance and murder of Peroni.
Sanfratello remains in custody in California and will be extradited back to Josephine County.
Next of kin has been notified of the status of this case.
At the time of this press release, no further information is being released.