to learn more about medicare plans in your neighborhood ar announcer: building a better bay area. moving forward, finding solutions. this is abc7 news. kristen: i am kristen sze. you're watching getting answers on abc7. we talk to experts about issues important to the bay area and get answers for you in real-time. today, a murder mystery solved. a serial killer finally admits to taking an librarians life. but waited to take him so long. what slowed the process of dna evidence? and is a man responsible for a san francisco investigative journalist who helped law-enforcement solve some of these stanford martyrs will join us. also, meteorologists have warned us yet many did not h

warnings about driving into tahoe this past weekend including our friend with our media partner, the san francisco standard she has some serious lessons learned from her experience and she will share her video and tips i hadn't thought of for winter driving but first, california's short-term and long-term water picture sure, our recent nine atmospheric rivers have built up the water supplies just take a look at lexington reservoir video that we shot yesterday the spillway was pouring. but reservoir management is getting ever more complicated, given the extreme weather that we are facing more and more now. joining us alive to talk about how we can reassure california's water supply, we have the resource manager for the california department of water resources. janine, thanks for your time. first, give us a snapshot of how well our reservoirs are doing. >> from afar, we've heard 169%

of average precipitation statewide, which means that many of our reservoirs have seen substantial gains in storage, especially those reservoirs that were directly under the west parts of the storm track, and smaller reservoirs that revealed more quickly. kristen: what a difference a year makes. is this going to meet our needs for a while? looking at this, you going to say we are good, we don't need to conserve water this summer? >> guest: we should still be conserving water. it is important to recognize that many reservoirs are still in their flood control reservation, meaning that they have to hold the storage capacity down to provide the space for more floods should they occur. and so the reservoirs may be high right now for this time of year, some of our large reservoirs are only actually a little over half full in terms of total capacity so for those, we wait until the snowmelt

runoff season starts in spring time to see where we end up. kristen: is there anything we need to do to ensure it doesn't get too >> for the reservoirs that are operated for flood control surfaces, most of them have a specific elevation that they can't exceed during the wet months, so if more water comes into a reservoir, they have to keep releasing it until they are back at their target elevation. kristen: before, you used to kind of plan for droughts or floods. now it almost seems simultaneous. janine: california is known for its high -- this year we are seeing variability within a year. if you recall last year, things looks great from a water supply perspective at the end of december, but then it stopped raining for the rest of the wet season. kristen: fingers crossed. hopefully we will get more in

january. all this rain that we have gotten, as people say that this will help us with the drought, is a lot of it just being writing off and wasted and not being captured? jeanine: a lot of it is running off. groundwater, for example, is very important for a water supply portfolio. groundwater recharge is more slower than surface water does. even a single wet year will not compensate for the substantial loss of groundwater storage that many places have experienced in california in the past decade or so. kristen: are there things infrastructure ways that we can do to increase the percentage that we can actually capture and store? jeanine: well, a lot of agencies are looking at adding in more groundwater recharge to comply with california's recent legislation on groundwater sustainability. to do that, it will require

billions of dollars in investment in dams, being able to take water upstream and putting it someplace where it can percolate when we have these flashy weather events. kristen: so that will probably take some money or legislation, may go to the voters. speaking of that, in 2014 during the worst of our drought dec california voters did approve villains of dollars for infrastructure that would catch and store a lot of the water. and i think a lot of them, -- in fact, have any of them gotten off the ground? jeanine: prior or just before our prior drought, there was a bond measure enacted that provided substantial funding, some it the drought impacts. there was also a grant program in there for local water storage reservoirs, but that would be in state contribution to a project that locals are developing and leading, and

those projects have not been progressing very rapidly so far. kristen: what does it take for them to be expedited? jeanine: well, typically there is a planning and permitting process, and local agencies must find the financing to cover all of the reservoirs' costs, because typically they are looking at other partners in many cases, to help share in the cost of infrastructure. btonaing. ortagemshe sdh to take care of itself. could that happen here in california? jeanine: well so you know, historically in the water supply world, the concept was always planning for future publishing growth. but california's population growth has slowed dramatically not just during the covid

period, but even before that, and now we are looking at a different set of circumstances, which is that climate change is here, and because of warming temperatures, it is creating essentially a tax on our water supply and we get less runoff from storms that we -- than we used to, and thus storms over. so instead of now planning for growth of population, we have to plan for a diminution of supplies in the future due to climate change. kristen: and how do you plan for that? what are the things on your table that you wish you could make happen? jeanine: definitely a lot of infrastructure investments over the long-term. because when you think about it now, the planning system we have in the sierra nevada is faced on the idea that there would be ample snowpack that would stay up there all winter and then melt off in the spring. temperatures get warmer the further and further you go into the future, the less and less

snowpack that we get. so, we need to reengineer much of our system to provide ways to move more water into groundwater storage, for example. kristen: right. your title is interested resources manager. so do you work with other states to ensure a steady water supply? jeanine: so, the colorado river has historically been california's most reliable water surface supply during droughts but that base, too, has been in drought literally since the year 2000. water managers are now struggling to respond to shortfalls in the colorado river system. kristen: is california in the position to be a taker or a giver right now? jeanine: on the colorado river system, that is very important for our water agencies in southern california. but this year will likely be the first year in which all the water users on the river are cut because we have simply depleted the massive amount of storage capacity that we have been

living off of. kristen: jeanine jones, these are complicated questions and you have given us a lot to think about. we hope to continue this conversation. thank you so much for your time today. it took some 50 years to get justice in the murder mystery of a young woman who worked at stanford. ahead we go deep in the case, what led to a confession and a plea with the

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that is how long it took to get justice for the family of a 21-year-old stanford library and murdered in 1973. leslie perlov was only 21 when she went missing from stanford and was later found raped, strangled and

discarded in the woods. hers was one of several high-profile killings around that time in stanford and in california. last week, her killer, now 78 years old, finally pleaded guilty. jutting this is the peabody award-winning investigative journalist who was reporting some help solve several killings. thanks for joining us today. guest: thanks for having me. kristen: who was leslie perlov, and who was john getreu 50 years ago when he killed her? guest: she was an outstanding -- she was working at the stanford library part-time, but she was an outstanding palo alto resident whose mother and uncle went to stanford, and she had just been accepted to penn school. john getreu was a stanford employee.

before dna technology led to a crack in the case. last week he finally pleaded guilty, here is a picture of him at the virtual hearing. he actually changed his plea, right? why? guest: it was a long time coming and we didn't think we would get here. the murder was 50 years ago. investigator after investigator worked the case. it was not just the dna technology, it was the fact that decade after decade, all these investigators from the santa clara sheriff's office gathered the evidence and kept everything pristine. and he was finally identified. and the hard part was actually getting the santa clara district attorney and the court to allow john getreu to plead guilty at the hearing, because he actually admitted to killing leslie over a year ago, after he was sentenced for killing another

stanford resident, janet taylor. kristen: we have a picture of her as well. for the last four years, john cut-throughs had already been serving a life sentence for killing jenna taylor. she was the daughter of stanford's football coach and athletic director at the time, so this got a lot of attention. but even in 1964, he raped and murdered a 15-year-old in germany where john getreu and the victim's families were stationed. what was the connection here? what was getreu's grace: as we have idaho killer, you ask yourself, the one thing about john getreu is he started killing and raping girls when he was 14. his first killing was 18, he confessed.

he was convicted in germany. these were horrible and brutal crimes. so the one thing that you can be sure of when you have somebody who was basically a sociopath who kills for sexual pleasure, it's almost guaranteed that if you don't incarcerate him, once he has successfully done it, he will do it again and again and again. yes, he was convicted in the margaret williams case, served time as a juvenile, got out, came here and started raping and killing right away. and besides jenna taylor and leslie perlov, there was a girl scout, a palo alto junior that he also raped. he also was -- he started raping his four-year-old stepdaughter at the time. and i think what is really relevant here is people think that serial killers are like limit long haired people who look weird. nine times out of 10 they are married with children and

incredibly charming. i just spoke to a guy who worked every day with john getreu at the stanford lab, and he said, he was the nicest guy in the world. . and you will hear that over and over and over again. kristen: i know that you are chasing out more leads, and there may be dozens related to getreu, but i want to focus on one -- this is brand-new information you are reviewing for the first time here on abc7news involving an unsolved bay area case. this woman survived her attack in sausalito. this was 1975, she was 23 years old. tell us who this was. and clearly, she suffered an injury of sorts when she was attacked. tell us about what happened to her. grace: it is a miracle that joyce even survived. this is in 1975, after he ki leslie and janet and raped diane. she was going to those days, not everybody had a car. she came up from only saw some

friends in berkeley and said she put up her thumb, that is what people did at the time to get around. he picked her up, drove her to your woods. she said i will just get off here. she said she turned to look at the door and realized there is no handle, i he was totally calm and he said, it falls off. it is just down here. so he reaches over to the toolbox after he stops the car to presumably get the door handle so she can get out, and he grabbed her neck with his hand and said, very calmly, " am going to kill you now." kristen: we have a picture of getreu from that time when he was a much younger man that we can show, as you continue to tell us how she got away from him. grace: right. so that picture is key, because as somebody who during the course of my investigation, she sent me that picture and up until that point, joyce's

attacker had been identified. but limit continue with what happened. he started strangling her. she did pass out. and when she came to, she said all she remembers is her head was in his lap, he was starting to start the truck to drive away -- -- and this is in the middle of sunshine on a sunny day, in mirror woods where there are people around -- he starts the car and said, i just focused on the passenger window and i was wearing these big combat boots, and he was saying, i have to hit the middle of that window with my boots. she says her next memory was, she broke the window with her feet and went flying out headfirst. witnesses said it was like she came flying out of the window like superman while the car was moving. kristen: it is truly amazing that she survived and that she identified him from that photo. i understand he will be

sentenced for leslie perlov in april. and i understand that you will cap going. tell us why you stay on these cases. grace: i stay in these cases because these have to be solved. these women deserve justice. there are so many of them and they are completely solvable. the great investigators and cooperation in every county in the bay area, we have about half a dozen, in san francisco tect e other cases in other states. law enforcement just needs the funding and the time and the resources to solve these cases. kristen: grace kong, investigative journalist who has been instrumental -- grace kahng , thank you so much for your time. grace: thanks. kristen: coming up next, we are going to shift gears. do you want to enjoy the snow in tahoe? tips and advice from someone who made the trip to tahoe and i'm jonathan lawson

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couldn't resist the fresh snow in tahoe this part of the king ho abc7 meteorologists warned the drive should be avoided at all costs. one viewer even tweeted this, saying if i can get up there -- if you don't get up there by 1 p.m. friday, don't go there. that is exactly what our san francisco standards director of multimedia content tried to do. she learned a lot from her experience. she is your to offer both a cautionary tale and great tips, that sophie, i honestly hadn't thought of. wow. [laughter] first of all, let me just say, glad you made it back to tell the tale. did you know it was going to be dangerous? sophia: thanks, for having me. starting thursday, well before i had the plan to go to tahoe with

friends, we had a cabin booked and are looking forward to the long weekend. on thursday we started seeing the news from the national weather service that a storm was coming and it would be a bit dicey, and like you said, they were recommending that if you couldn't get to tahoe before 1:00 p.m. friday, to not go. unfortunately, with all our work schedules, i knew that wouldn't happen for us, we would have to leave later. so, following everything on twitter, knowing that it would be a bit dicey, but also knowing that so many people like us were making this calculated risk, we wanted to make sure we were set up for success. so we did it embark on this journey on kristen: i definitely want your tapes, but first i want to show a video of your drive. tell us about it. where did you get dicey? walk us through it. sophie: essentially when you get to tahoe there are two ways to get through the storm i-80 or i

50. we were going to the tahoe area so i-80 was where to going over donner summit, 200 feet of elevation. so when it is snowy, it is slowly. things started getting dicey before that and at a certain point, i-80 closed. we saw that and we knew it might happen so we had already talked about a hotel that we could stay in in awe, which is many hours before -- considering you are going 20 miles per hour at that point. we had that plan. but it was definitely coming down hard at that point. kristen: so when did you leave, and what time did you get there? this was saturday, right? sophie: you are really pulling it out of me, kristin. ''s's we left friday at 7:00. 's i believe we were seeing on twitter that donner pass was closed around 11 p.m. so we had to backtrack just a little bit. we had already passed auburn and colfax, checked into that hotel.

we woke up at 5:30 and check twitter, donner pass was open and i-80 was once again, functioning, daylight was coming on. we were able to make it over at a really slow speed. kristen: i am glad you didn't get into an accident although many people did, as we saw in the video. in terms of lessons learned, we all know you should have things like ice scrapers and chains for such a drive. but if you find yourself stuck, you have some ideas for what you do to dig yourself out? sophie: yes. if you are spinning or stuck in the snow you can take the formats and put those under the wheels -- the floor mats and put those under the wheels. the traction will help you get out of that tricky situation. . kristen: you said something about getting the snow off the hood at first? sophie: definitely. we had three feet of snow this weekend, so every morning we were working up to a ton of snow. you have to wipe that off. otherwise if you break steadily, that can fall onto your

windshield and completely get rid of visibility and put yourself at risk, and other drivers. kristen: also, don't automatically trust and follow google maps. why? sophie: this is a really good one. google maps at this point doesn't have the best advice for you. it might try to reroute you to avoid traffic. those roads will likely be closed or unplowed, and even dicier than i-80 or i 50. just stick to those two if they are closed, obviously turn around. but those are the only ways to tahoe in winter driving conditions. kristen: and finally some alternatives if you don't want to make the drive yourself. kristen: there is a couple of options. sports basement offers a really cushy bus experience for $95 round-trip, even including snacks. of course, this weekend, they weren't driving, so check when you feel comfortable doing over. so you can definitely get to tahoe. even if you don't want to drive.

kris yes and knows for you. did you have a good time? 's sophie: i did have a good time. i am a beginner skier so the powder was a lot. but i learned a lot and we had fun. kristen: would you do it again? sophie: may be. '' time. folks check out san francisco standard. sophie and others have original reporting on sf abc7 will continue to bring with you mor

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kristen: thank you so much for joining us for "getting answers" today. we will be here monday t tonight, s.w.a.t. teams proving in, police say a candidate who lost the election hired hitmen who opened fire on the homes of four democratic lawmakers. also breaking tonight, the wife and mother of three missing. tonight, the major news coming in on the husband. and the major storm hitting tonight, moving east. the winter storm warnings up at this hour. first tonight, the republican candidate who lost in a landslide now under arrest. seen on home surveillance. authorities say looking for one of his alleged targets. police say he hired those hitmen to fire at the homes of four democratic officials, bullets right through the walls, one into the bedroom of a 10-year-old girl. also the case making national headlines. the wife and mother of three in massachusetts, the husband tonight charged with murder. what turned in this case?

the winter storm warnings at this hour sweeping across