A former Navy sailor was sentenced Friday to seven years to life in prison for first-degree murder nearly 52 years after Mary Scott was found dead in her City Heights apartment.
A San Diego jury found John Sipos, 76, guilty of first-degree murder on March 25. This case marks the first time the region has had a murder case involving genetic genealogy make it to a jury trial.
The seven-year-to-life state prison sentence was the maximum term he could have received, as it was the maximum punishment available at the time of the killing. He did not face a rape count at trial because the statute of limitations on that charge ran out many years ago.
Mary Scott was a waitress, then later a go-go dancer at the Star and Garter club, which was about a mile from her apartment on 39th Street near University Avenue. She was 23 years old on November 20, 1969, when someone broke down her apartment door, broke her jaw, raped her, strangled her, and left her nude in her apartment.
The San Diego Union-Tribune reported in 1969 Scott fought back, and investigators found the door’s safety chain ripped out and overturned furniture. The Los Angeles Times reported neighbors heard screaming in her apartment at around 2:30 a.m.
According to court records, Scott’s friend and coworker discovered the body after she failed to show up to work.
Sipos had just gotten out of the Navy and lived in San Diego in November 1969.
Police said that after the case went cold, it was later re-evaluated by the cold case units of the San Diego Police Department and San Diego County District Attorney's Office. Sipos was connected to the killing with DNA left at the scene evaluated with forensic genealogy, leading to his arrest in late 2020 at his Pennsylvania home.
Defense attorney Brooke LaFrance argued during Sipos' sentencing that her client's case was hampered by the inability to bring in several witnesses, including many who have since died. She also said evidence pointed to another suspect, though Deputy District Attorney Chris Lindberg said that man's DNA, unlike Sipos', was excluded from the crime scene.
“(Sipos) has been able to avoid accountability for his crime,'' the prosecutor said during the hearing.”It's been a long time coming.''
Scott's sister, Rosalie Sanz, who was 16 at the time of Scott's death, said Sipos “robbed (Mary) of so much of her life,'' including getting to see her two young daughters grow up.
One of Scott's daughters died in a car decades ago. Scott's other daughter, Donna Wyble, said Friday that her sister Christine, “would have wanted to see justice.''
At the sentencing hearing, Wyble said, “I want John Sipos to know he has taken everything from my sister and I.''
