DNA Breaks 34-Year Cold Case, Man Sentenced for 1992 Murder

A burned-out house in Weimar kept its secret for 34 years, until preserved evidence and modern DNA testing finally put Joseph Foster behind bars for the killing of 85-year-old Alwin Schoefer. Foster, 65, was sentenced on April 30 to more than 75 years to life after pleading guilty on March 30 to first-degree murder in the 1992 death.

Schoefer was found dead inside his home on August 6, 1992, after firefighters responded to a house fire. Once the flames were out, investigators discovered he had been beaten, stabbed and shot, and that the blaze had been deliberately set inside the house. Padlocks on the exterior doors suggested the attacker had tried to trap him inside.

The case stayed active through a bag of evidence recovered in Nevada County, containing Schoefer’s wallet, identification, coin purse and clothing items. DNA developed from that 1992 material produced a match in 2025, and Foster was arrested on March 18, 2025, after a murder warrant was issued. Prosecutors from the Placer County District Attorney’s Office handled the case.

Investigators believe Foster knew Schoefer and lived within walking distance of his home. They also believe robbery may have been the motive, because Schoefer was known to carry large amounts of cash instead of using banks. That theory fit the violent scene at the house and the attempt to conceal the crime with fire.

The sentence closes another chapter in a long line of Weimar-area killings tied to Foster. Placer County officials said he was already serving multiple life sentences for the January 7, 1991 murders of Jacqueline Barton and Hugh Gresham, a double homicide that was solved through DNA in 2017. Foster was also convicted in 1982 of voluntary manslaughter in the 1980 shooting death of another man near Weimar, leaving county officials to say he has now been held responsible for four murders tied to the same general area.

Sheriff Wayne Woo credited the Placer County Cold Case Unit, a joint team of sheriff’s detectives and a district attorney investigator, for continuing to test old evidence and pursue leads that can still break open decades-old crimes. Woo said the work strengthens their resolve. For a case that began with a burned house and a body inside it, the ending came only after science caught up with the file.