John W., director of online training company ReadyTech, was arrested at JFK airport in New York last Saturday after a flight from Amsterdam. The 58-year-old American is another prime suspect in a 1992 case involving the strangulation of Laurie Houts, the girlfriend of W.'s then roommate and college roommate. ReadyTech is headquartered in Oakland, California, and also has a branch in Nieuwegein, the Netherlands.
A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, John W. lived with Laurie Houts' boyfriend during college; she worked as a computer programmer at Adobe. According to investigators, he was in love with his roommate's girlfriend and killed her out of jealousy. John W. has no alibi for the night of the murder.
Because investigators found W.'s fingerprints on the outside of Houts' car, W. stood trial twice in the 1990s as a suspect in the murder case. Both times the jury failed to reach a verdict due to insufficient evidence and the case was dismissed. Once at large, W. moved to the Netherlands.
In 2020, a cold case team in the U.S. aided by new techniques decides to take another look at the case. The approach also yields dna from W. on the strangling rope. Should W. be found guilty, a life sentence awaits him, US media reported.
In a statement issued Tuesday, ReadyTech called the arrest of its chief executive a "shock to all of us. The company expresses its "deepest condolences to the families involved," adding that ReadyTech is calling on "the strength of our long leadership team to support our employees, our customers and our company during this time," according to CNN.
