Cathy Zimmer was found strangled to death, her body covered in a colorful patchwork quilt, in her car in the short-term parking lot of the Mineta San José International Airport on Mar. 10, 1989 – almost 25 years ago to the day.
On March 7, authorities arrested the victim’s husband on a charge of murder, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office.
Robert Zimmer, 69, of Santa Clara, is scheduled to appear for an arraignment early next week.
The cold case attracted national media attention in February after investigators released an image of the quilt for the first time, in hopes of jarring the memory of someone who remembered anything about its origins. Robert’s brother, 66-year-old David Zimmer of Half Moon Bay, was arrested later that month on a murder charge and is currently being held without bail.
In 2011, District Attorney Jeff Rosen restored the County’s Cold Case Unit to help solve homicides and sexual assaults and says these were the kinds of arrests he had in mind when he brought the unit back.
“We do not forget victims nor do we ever give up on justice,” Rosen said in a press release.
According to the DA’s office, the investigation revealed that Cathy and Robert were going through the separation process at the time of her murder. Within a month of her death by strangulation, Robert had sold their home for more than $225,000 and cashed in on two life insurance policies, netting $183,000, the release stated.
That’s what led investigators to track down Cathy’s husband and his brother.
Before she died, Cathy was taking business classes at San Jose State University and worked part-time at a real estate office. She was last seen alive on Mar. 8, 1989 after she drove her two then-teenaged children to school, ate lunch with a friend and attended two classes.
Cathy missed a 2:45 p.m. appointment that day to check on her recently fitted contact lenses at a Los Gatos eye doctor – and she never returned home. Her body was discovered two days later.
Since the Cold Case Unit’s reinstatement, the DA’s office says it has helped solve five major cold case murders.
