Indiana jury convicts man in 1979 slaying of woman, 20

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) – A western Indiana man charged with murder after his DNA matched evidence in a long-unsolved killing has been convicted in the 1979 slaying of a 20-year-old woman.

The Tribune Star reports that a Vigo County jury convicted 57-year-old Richard L. Boswell Jr. of murder Friday afternoon in Kathy Jo Baker’s May 1979 killing and attempted murder for critically injuring her 2-year-old son.

Baker’s relatives gasped as the verdicts were announced. Prosecutor Terry Modesitt said he welcomed the convictions 35 years after Baker’s killing.

The Terre Haute man was charged in 2010 after DNA taken from Baker’s T-shirt was matched to him. Jurors heard testimony that the genetic match was one in 40 billion.

Boswell stood trial twice in 2013, but both ended in mistrials. He’ll be sentenced May 18.