She Walked Into the Woods With Him in 1983. DNA Finally Changed the Case.

She Left the Party With Him. She Never Came Back.

On or around July 4, 1983, Teresa Peroni attended a summer party near the small town of Selma in southern Oregon. She was 27 years old. At some point during the evening, she was seen walking into a wooded area with her boyfriend, Marcus Sanfratello.

She was never seen again.

Her family reported her missing shortly after. Investigators found the disappearance suspicious. Sanfratello, who was with her, was questioned. There was not enough evidence to charge him. The case went cold.

Fourteen years later, in 1997, a human skull was discovered on a nearby property - close to where Teresa was last seen. Investigators suspected it was hers but could not confirm it. The skull sat unidentified for decades.

In 2024, DNA testing finally confirmed what investigators had long suspected. The skull belonged to Teresa Peroni.

A Suspect Who Lived Free for Four Decades

Marcus Sanfratello moved on with his life after Teresa disappeared. Decades passed. He was never charged. By the time DNA technology advanced enough to identify Teresa’s remains, he was living in California and was 73 years old.

In June 2025, investigators traveled to Chico, California, where Chico police arrested him and he was extradited to Oregon. According to the Oregon Department of Justice, Sanfratello was charged with Teresa’s murder in connection with her 1983 death.

He pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter.

In April 2026, Sanfratello was sentenced to 20 years in prison, according to Fox 12 Oregon. Under the terms of the plea agreement, he will serve a minimum of 10 years.

He was 33 years old when Teresa Peroni walked into the woods with him and did not walk out.

The Science That Closed the Case

The breakthrough that made the arrest possible came not from a witness or a new lead, but from advances in forensic DNA technology.

The skull recovered in 1997 had not yielded usable evidence for decades. But as DNA testing capabilities expanded, investigators were able to extract and analyze genetic material that had been preserved in the bone. That analysis, completed in 2024, confirmed the remains were Teresa’s - and provided investigators with a pathway to building the case against Sanfratello.

The Oregon Department of Justice confirmed the DNA evidence was central to the guilty plea.

43 Years of Waiting

Teresa Peroni was 27 years old when she disappeared on a summer evening in rural Oregon. She had a family who reported her missing immediately. She had people who never stopped wondering what happened to her.

For 43 years, there were no charges, no trial, no accountability.

The July 4th party became the last known moment of her life. The woods became the place where her story ended without explanation. A skull in a field in 1997 was the only physical evidence that she had been there at all.

In April 2026, a 73-year-old man stood before a judge in Oregon and admitted what he did.

Teresa Peroni’s family has not spoken publicly about the sentencing. What they waited four decades for has now been delivered - a guilty plea, a prison sentence, and a name on the record for what happened on that July evening in 1983.

References: Man Sentenced to 20 Years in Oregon Cold Case Murder After DNA Breakthrough