(AP) — A Hawaii grand jury on Friday indicted a former deputy Nevada attorney general on charges of second-degree murder in connection with the 50-year-old cold case of a Honolulu woman killed in 1972.

Tudor Chirila, 77, is in custody in Reno, Nevada, where he is fighting extradition to Hawaii, saying his rights were violated when he was arrested last week.

Honolulu police said new DNA evidence linked Chirila to the crime scene at Nancy Anderson’s apartment in Waikiki, where she had been stabbed more than 60 times. She had recently moved to Hawaii from Bay City, Michigan, and was working at a McDonald’s restaurant.

A criminal complaint filed in Honolulu said police had reopened the cold case multiple times since the 1972 killing and received a tip in December that Chirila could be a suspect.

In March, police obtained a DNA sample from Chirila’s son that identified him as the biological child of a DNA sample found at the crime scene, according to the criminal complaint. Police then served a search warrant and obtained a DNA sample from Chirila at his Reno apartment on Sept. 6, court records said.

Anderson’s family issued a statement Friday through the Honolulu prosecutor’s office thanking law enforcement for their work on the case.

“Despite the many hurdles, we (Nancy’s nine siblings) never gave up hope that justice would be served. We always had strong faith that all things would be resolved in God’s time,” the statement said.

Chirila said he’s fighting extradition because police forced him to provide saliva for the DNA sample in September and he believes his constitutional rights were violated when he was arrested.

Chirila has an Oct. 17 hearing in Reno, which was rescheduled from Oct. 3.

Honolulu prosecutors said a conviction on a charge of second-degree murder carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole.

 

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