The arrests came just weeks after prosecutors in Santa Clara County released new details in hopes of finally solving the case, including photos of the large, colorful quilt that covered Cathy Zimmer's body when she was found March 10, 1989.
immer, 66, of Half Moon Bay, was arrested Friday in the slaying of his estranged wife. Cathy Zimmer's body was found wrapped in a patchwork quilt in the backseat of her Chrysler New Yorker in a parking lot at San Jose International Airport in 1989, the Santa Clara County district attorney's office said.
Prosecutors said an investigation revealed the couple was going through a separation at the time Cathy Zimmer was killed. The 38-year-old mother of two worked part-time at a real estate office and took classes at San Jose State University, where she was last seen two days before her body was discove
Yet evidence also linked Robert Zimmer to the case, according to court documents. Evidence found "in an intimate area" of an item of Cathy Zimmer's clothing matched Robert Zimmer's DNA profile, investigators wrote in a court affidavit.
Robert Zimmer told his daughter that he had met with Cathy Zimmer on the day she was killed, that he was in the car with Cathy Zimmer because he was worried about her, and that he was concerned that his fingerprints would be found in the car, thus implicating him in her murder, investigators wrote.
During an interview with investigators two months ago, the court document said, Robert Zimmer told them that had had no personal or sexual relationship with Cathy Zimmer. When asked if he was ever alone in a car with Cathy Zimmer, he stated that he "did not recall."
