James Whisenand Pleads Guilty in 2008 San Jose Cold Case
- James Whisenand, a 45-year-old resident of Brazil, Indiana, has pleaded guilty to the 2008 home invasion and sexual assault of an elderly woman in San Jose, California, according...
- 6, 2008, when a masked intruder broke into the 61-year-old victim's first-floor apartment on Saint Elizabeth Drive in San Jose.
- No suspects were identified during the initial investigation, and the victim ultimately died of natural causes in 2011.
James Whisenand, a 45-year-old resident of Brazil, Indiana, has pleaded guilty to the 2008 home invasion and sexual assault of an elderly woman in San Jose, California, according to prosecutors. The breakthrough in the nearly two-decade-old cold case came through DNA evidence matched via the national CODIS database.
DNA Database Match Unlocks 2008 Attack
The assault took place on Jan. 6, 2008, when a masked intruder broke into the 61-year-old victim’s first-floor apartment on Saint Elizabeth Drive in San Jose. Investigators stated that the attacker punched the woman in the face, breaking her nose, choked her, and sexually assaulted her multiple times before fleeing. Court records show that Whisenand lived with his then-wife on Meridian Avenue at the time, just two blocks away from the victim’s senior living facility.
No suspects were identified during the initial investigation, and the victim ultimately died of natural causes in 2011. The case remained unsolved until March 2024, when the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s crime lab was notified that DNA collected at the scene and entered into the Combined DNA Index System matched Whisenand. Whisenand had become a registered sex offender following a 2023 misdemeanor sexual battery conviction.
Law Enforcement Coordination and Arrest
Following confirmation of the DNA match by the district attorney’s cold case unit, the San Jose Police Department, and authorities, authorities coordinated an arrest in Indiana. Whisenand was taken into custody in September 2024 with assistance from the Indiana State Police, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, and the Brazil Police Department.
Law enforcement officers utilized a ruse to secure the arrest, inviting Whisenand to the local police department in Brazil to fill out paperwork related to his sex offender registration. He was met there by San Jose Police Department Special Victims Unit Sgt. Sean Pierce and Det. John Moutzouridis, one of the original detectives who investigated the assault in 2008.
Sentencing Scheduled at Hall of Justice
Under the terms of the plea agreement, Whisenand is expected to serve a 25-year prison term. Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen emphasized the persistence of the investigation in a public statement, noting that years and distance do not matter and that he wished he could have told the victim that they caught the suspect and that he wished she were there with them today.
Whisenand’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. Thursday at the Hall of Justice in San Jose, according to court records.