Published: August 09, 2011
Updated: August 09, 2011 - 10:39 AM » Comments | Post a Comment
DELAWARE, Ohio -- A local man has been arrested in connection to a 1978 murder of a Los Angeles business executive after cold-case investigators found forensic evidence linking him to the crime.
Los Angeles investigators said 62-year-old Walter Randolph Peartree was arrested at his home in Delaware Monday on a murder warrant.
Peartree is suspected in the April 10, 1978, stabbing death of 52-year-old James Gentry.
A friend discovered Gentry murdered in his Westside residence.
The slaying went unresolved until a few months ago, when scientific testing requested by cold-case detectives showed Peartree was in Gentry's home at the time of the killing.
Peartree, originally from Virginia, has been living in various locations in Ohio since the mid-1990s.
LA homicide detectives contacted Delaware police in May 2011.
Delaware police provided assistance to LAPD detectives by providing background information, conducting surveillance, obtaining and executing a search warrant, interviews and arresting Peartree.
Peartree is scheduled for a video arraignment in Delaware municipal court at 10 a.m. Tuesday.
Peartree's extradition to California is pending his court appearances in Delaware.
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