ANAHEIM, Calif. — Police have arrested a 64-year-old man in connection with a 1980 cold case where a woman was found dead in her Southern California apartment.
Andre William Lepere was arrested Wednesday in New Mexico on suspicion of the murder of 79-year-old Viola Hagenkord in Anaheim.
Authorities determined Hagenkord had been sexually assaulted and she died of asphyxiation.
Lepere is being held without bail in New Mexico’s Otero County pending extradition proceedings. It was not immediately clear if he had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.
The Los Angeles Times reported that homicide detectives reopened Hagenkord’s death in September and DNA evidence pointed to Lepere as a suspect.
