RENO, Nev. (AP) – A 73-year-old auto dealer from Arizona is expected to plead not guilty in Reno in the cold-case killing of a California woman more than 40 years ago.
Defense attorney David Houston said Monday he intends on Tuesday to challenge DNA evidence that prosecutors say leads to Charles Gary Sullivan.
He was arrested in August in Flagstaff, Arizona.
Sullivan is accused of killing 20-year-old Julia Woodward, of San Rafael, California.
She was last seen in February 1979 in San Francisco on her way to the Lake Tahoe area.
Her bludgeoned body was found in March 1979 off a remote hiking and biking trail outside Reno.
Authorities say DNA evidence found on Woodward’s clothing led to Sullivan, who was convicted of a 2007 sex attack on a woman in California’s Nevada County.