A 67-year-old Arizona man has been arrested in connection with the rape and killing of a young woman who was found nearly four decades ago in an abandoned building, authorities said.
David Kizziar has been charged with sexual assault and first-degree murder and currently is being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the Maricopa County Jail. He told investigators he had nothing to do with the attack and declined to answer further questions, according to local reports.
Online court records show a preliminary hearing for Kizziar is scheduled for Nov. 17.
Aimee See, 22, was found Feb. 17, 1984 inside a deserted Phoenix mortuary. A telephone cord was wrapped around her neck, and her head was battered, it was reported at the time. She had been dead for several days, police said.
Officers found her body after responding to an anonymous caller who said smoke was coming from the building and people were inside.
Police found only a trail of blood inside the derelict structure. They followed it to the rear of the building, where See's nude body was lying face up on a sleeping bag.
Previous attempts to match DNA found at the scene came up with nothing, investigators said.
But in October, cold case investigators with Phoenix Police say they connected Kizziar to the investigation using "emerging technology." Officers declined to explain what that meant, according to local reports.
Armed with a court order, they obtained a DNA sample from Kizziar, and it matched evidence taken from the crime scene, police said.
"We send a message to the family and to society that we're not giving up, we won't give up, we refuse to give up," Sgt. Troy Hillman told AZfamily.com. "We also send a message to the bad guy, 'Hey, you better look over your shoulder.'"
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