“Advances in DNA technology are allowing authorities to take a look at these difficult cases,” Hunter said. “Just because the cases disappear does not mean that someone should not be held responsible, even after three decades.”
Court records do not show whether Wilson has hired an attorney.
In September 1985, Aikman was stabbed to death at a rest stop at Turner Turnpike in Lincoln County, according to the statement. The highway connects Oklahoma City and Tulsa, the state’s two largest cities.
Agents from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation collected cigarette butts and latent fingerprints from the crime scene, which allowed investigators to develop a DNA profile of a suspect, but no matches were found at the time, according to the release.
The case was gone for 33 years.
Then last year, a search for OSBI criminals from the national DNA database CODIS found a possible match to DNA recovered at the rest stop, according to the statement. The criminalists then matched the latent fingerprint Wilson took at the crime scene.
Wilson is currently in an Oklahoma prison on a sexual assault conviction, prison records show.
“For 35 years, Paul Aikman’s family ached not knowing who was responsible for his murder,” said OSBI Director Ricky Adams. “35 years have passed, but we have not forgotten Paul. Thanks to the science and determined police work of OSBI agents and our Cold Case Unit, we are pleased to announce that the suspect in Paul’s murder has been identified.”
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