DNA advances have led to an arrest which could solve the cold case murder of a 16-year-old girl at a school in Hawaii, nearly five decades ago.
The body of Dawn Momohara was discovered on the second floor of the English building at McKinley High School in Honolulu on 21 March 1977. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled.
Her former classmate, Gideon Castro, now 66, has been charged with second-degree murder, according to the Honolulu Police Department.
He was arrested on Tuesday at a nursing home in Utah where he lives.
Lieutenant Deena Thoemmes, from the department’s homicide department, said the arrest was the result of advances in testing samples of DNA, which were not feasible in 1977.
The morning before Ms Momohara was attacked, she had received a call from an unknown man. Later she told her mother she would be visiting a shopping centre with friends.
Lt Thoemmes said that officers found Ms Momohara at the school with an orange cloth wound tightly around her neck, “lying on her back, partially clothed”.
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After her body was found, detectives interviewed several people, including Mr Castro, but failed to identify a suspect.
Sketches of a potential suspect and vehicle were published at the time and were also posted on the Honolulu Police Department’s website.
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In 2019, police re-examined evidence from the murder scene including a pair of blue shorts and underwear. It helped secure the DNA profile of an unidentified male from sperm on Ms Momohara’s shorts.
Mr Castro is now in custody in Salt Lake County and awaiting extradition to Honolulu, according to Lt Thoemmes who thanked police in Hawaii and Utah.
“Thank you all for your dedication and commitment to the tireless pursuit of justice for Dawn and the Momohara family,” she said.
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