Associated Press
SEATTLE — Seattle police say a man convicted of multiple sexual assaults decades ago now faces charges for the 1998 murder of a woman after a detective re-investigated the case.
KOMO-TV reported murder charges were filed Thursday against John Ray Stearns, 56, in the death of a 33-year-old woman in the Central District of Seattle.
Stearns is currently in prison for convictions from the 1980s and 90s that took place in the same neighborhood.
In January 1998, police say city workers found the woman’s body. The King County Medical Examiner said at the time the woman was killed by blows to her face and head.
Police say in 2004 they received notification of a DNA match to Stearns in the death but he denied being involved.
The charges come after a detective conducted new interviews with Stearns and witnesses this year.
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