North Carolina

North Carolina man charged in 1987 murder, rape case in California

LUMBERTON, N.C. — Authorities have arrested a North Carolina man in a cold case murder and rape which occurred in California 31 years ago.

The Robeson County District Attorney's Office said in a news release 62-year-old Kevin Thomas Ford of St. Pauls is awaiting extradition to San Diego for a first-degree murder warrant.

Officials say the San Diego District Attorney's Office was seeking help in the 1987 murder and rape of a 79-year-old woman. The review turned up a fingerprint on a stove in the woman's kitchen.

As Erich Hackney, investigator for Robeson County District Attorney Johnson Britt, reviewed the information, he found Ford had been charged in 2015 with communicating threats against a St. Pauls medical practice. A sheriff's deputy got a fingerprint matching the one found at the 1987 crime scene.