Updated: 8:35 p.m. Friday, April 11, 2008 | Posted: 5:08 p.m. Friday, April 11, 2008

Name Of Suspect In 92-Year-Old’s Slaying Still Not Released

Loved Ones Say They're Relieved By The Arrest

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. —

Police still have not released the name of the man charged with murder in the death of a 92-year-old woman stabbed in a robbery at her east Charlotte home late Sunday.

Officers arrested the man late Thursday. They said he got out of jail a year ago after serving a 20-year sentence for armed robbery.

Police said they are not revealing his name because they are investigating whether he was involved in other crimes. They spent much of Friday showing his picture in a line-up to victims.

Homicide detectives said the man followed Mildred Clontz into her Knickerbocker Drive home after she arrived home from church, stabbed her and took her purse. They won’t say what led them to make an arrest.

Her family members said they, like others who knew her, are relieved.

Pastor Garry Baldwin of Midwood Baptist Church, where Clontz spent much of her time, said the woman’s family held her funeral at the church Thursday. He showed Eyewitness News messages written on the sidewalk outside.

"This is one of the beautiful messages right here. It says, "Thank you, Mildred, for your lessons on forgiveness,’" he said. “The family enjoyed seeing this also.”

Baldwin said the congregation is comforted by the development in the case.

“Immediately there's relief all over the community because you start to hear from people and they're afraid,” he said.

Baldwin said his church was filled with emotions after Clontz was killed, ranging from fear to sadness to anger. But now, he's said, they will begin to forgive the accused.

“God commands us to forgive. There's not a choice in that matter,” he said.

Baldwin said it’s what Clontz would have wanted.

“Our hearts are still, as Mildred's heart was, (asking) ‘What could we have done to help this man?’” he said.