Overview
- James Terry Fowler was arrested in Memphis on Monday and charged with first-degree homicide in the 1977 death of Ralph Ambrose Gianoli.
- DNA taken from Gianoli’s fingernail clippings yielded a partial profile in 2023 that the Wisconsin State Crime Lab matched to Fowler in February 2025.
- The Kenosha Police Cold Case Unit reopened the case in 2021 and worked with the Wisconsin Department of Justice and the FBI to reexamine retained evidence using modern techniques.
- Gianoli, 48, was found in his home with an electrical cord around his neck, and an autopsy found he died from strangulation and blunt-force injuries to his head and abdomen.
- Investigators say Fowler was 19 and on leave from the Great Lakes Naval Training Center at the time, and they believe the men met earlier that night.