Suspect ID'd in 35-year-old Tilden Park rape and murder cold case

BERKELEY, Calif. - After 35 years, officials on Wednesday identified a man – now dead – who they say raped and strangled a young woman in Tilden Park in 1990. 

In a joint news conference, East Bay Regional Park District police, the FBI and the Contra Costa County District Attorney fingered Jon Lipari as the person responsible for killing 32-year-old Maria Jane Weidhofer a mile north of Inspiration Point.

On Nov. 16, 1990, Weidhofer was found dead on a trail with rope around her neck and with physical signs of a struggle after she had been reported missing the night before, park officials said.

Lipari died by suicide in November 2024 in Gold Beach, Oregon at the age of 70.

 He had killed himself with a gun in his home, officials said. A GoFundMe page started by a relative said he had cancer. 

"Even after 35 years of this horrific crime, we never gave up," East Bay Regional Park Manager Sabrina Landreth said. "To the family. I know this doesn't bring complete closure, but I just want you to know we were always here with you. This is a solemn day, but I do hope that this does bring some little bit of answer and closure to you as you've been suffering through this."

Officials said that semen found on Weidhofer's body was tested in 1997 and led them to Lipari, making him a suspect in 2023 and the primary suspect in 2024. 

DNA from the scene was retrieved by the Curry County Sheriff’s Office and a direct comparison was done by the Contra Costa County Crime Lab, officials said. 

The comparison determined the DNA profiles generated from the semen and the DNA from Lipari were a match, park officials said.

Handout photo of Maria Jane Weidhofer who was raped and murdered in Tilden Park in 1990. 

Officials provided no motive for the death, and they said the two had been strangers when he laid wait for her on the trail. 

Officials also said Lipari had no idea he was under investigation when he died by suicide. 

Detectives also said that they have no evidence on Lipari for other victims. 

In a statement, one of Lipari's death, Ruth Dixon, issued a statement to KTVU on behalf of his family.

Dixon said that none of Lipari's family or friends had knowledge of his past before he moved to Oregon,

Dixon said that his family was notified that he was a "person of interest" in the case when a search warrant was served.

And none of the family was notified about the result of the search warrant until the park district news release went out on Wednesday.

"He was known to the community as a reserved, but caring individual who always helped others," Dixon said in her email. "The family send condolences to the family of the victim, as no one should have to lose a child and go through not knowing who or why." 

In 2017, the East Bay Regional Park District put out a possible image of the suspect. 

Witnesses had described a suspicious man, European in appearance, between 25 and 30 years old, with a slender build, broad shoulders, short dark, neatly groomed hair and a mustache.

Wiedhofer had moved from Southern California to Oakland two years earlier to pursue her art. 

She worked at a natural foods business in Oakland and painted, sketched and had hoped to follow in her painter father’s footsteps as an artist.

She jogged for exercise and often ran alone in Tilden Park.

Her family did not attend the news conference, but issued a statement through the park police.

They said her parents had struggled since their daughter's death and that the young woman, who was a "gentle soul", was "callously cheated and deprived of her future."