LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) - Police in Long Beach say recent advances in DNA technology have helped them solve a 40-year-old murder, the oldest cold case homicide on their books.
In a statement Sunday, police say newly tested biological evidence collected at the crime scene has proven that Emanuel Miller sexually assaulted and stabbed 58-year-old Helen Sullivan to death on January 21, 1972.
Miller died in 1990 at the age of 54. Authorities say he had a lengthy criminal record and had been paroled in Los Angeles just prior to the murder.
The Sullivan killing was reexamined in recent years after Long Beach received federal grant funds allowing detectives to reopen cold case murders.
Authorities say Sullivan's family has been notified and is grateful that the case is closed.
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