San Jose cold case: Imprisoned man convicted in 1994 kidnapping at Oakridge Mall
Thomas Loguidice was already serving a 40-year prison sentence from San Benito County when DNA evidence linked him to the attack on a mall employee.
SAN JOSE — A jury this week convicted a man of kidnapping an Oakridge Mall employee more than three decades ago, after a cold-case investigation implicated him through DNA evidence obtained while he was in state prison for an unrelated crime, according to authorities and court records.
Thomas John Loguidice, 67, was found guilty Wednesday of one felony charge of aggravated kidnapping with intent for robbery in a Jan. 13, 1994 attack on a then-21-year-old Denise Crank.
Loguidice had been serving a 40-year sentence in a Soledad prison for a 2012 child sex abuse conviction in San Benito County when he was linked to the mall kidnapping.
In the summer of 2022, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office cold-case unit revisited the case and eventually matched forensic evidence preserved from the crime scene with a DNA profile Loguidice was required to submit after his conviction.
Crank, now 53, traveled from Michigan to testify at trial and identify Loguidice as her assailant.
“I am very pleased with the outcome and I’m looking forward to putting all of this behind me at sentencing,” Crank said in an interview. “It’s been a long and emotional road since I got that phone call letting me know of the DNA match. I’m proud of myself and all the hard work that people put into bringing justice for myself and Mr. Loguidice.”
At Loguidice’s scheduled sentencing Jan. 15, the new conviction could add a maximum term of seven years to life in prison on top of his current sentence, and could push his parole eligibility date back to 2039.
“The passage of time does not minimize this defendant’s violent and horrific acts, and he deserves to be held accountable,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement. “I am grateful for the terrific work of our crime lab, investigators, and prosecutors to bring this perpetrator to justice.”
Loguidice was indicted in December 2022, and jurors deliberated for two days to cap a weeklong trial. He has been held in the Santa Clara County Main Jail for nearly two years since being transferred from state prison.
Crank was acting manager at President Tuxedo and was readying the store for opening when a man walked into the showroom, threatened her with a knife, and forced her into a back storage room. He forced Crank to the ground, bound her wrists and tied her to a pipe, then proceeded to take cash out of the register. Police say he sexually assaulted Crank before running away.
The sexual assault claim was not prosecuted in the recent trial because the statute of limitations expired in 2000, but the kidnapping charge had no such restriction. Crank said she remains disappointed about that, and is advocating for legislative changes to ensure “all felony sex crimes can be prosecuted.”
When the renewed investigation matched crime-scene DNA to Loguidice, Crank said she immediately recognized him as her attacker, and the 1994 police sketch based on her memory strongly resembled the defendant. Prosecutor Henry Kim lauded her willingness to pursue the conviction.
“She’s been steadfast throughout the whole duration of this,” Kim said. “She’s remained strong, and she’s remained vigilant.”
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