A man was arrested Wednesday in the 1986 cold case murder of an 11-year-old Connecticut girl who was strangled while walking home from school, police said.
On September 23, 1986, 11-year-old Kathleen Flynn left school in Norwalk to walk home using a path that goes through the woods, Norwalk police said. But she never made it home.
Kathleen was reported missing and her body was found in the woods off of the path, police said.
An autopsy found that she had been sexually assaulted and strangled, according to police.
(MORE: Man charged in 1993 murder, abduction, sexual assault of 9-year-old Angie Housman)Now, more than 30 years later, a Maine man, Marc Karun, was arrested Wednesday morning as he left his home, police said.
Karun is charged with sexual assault and murder, police said. He is being held at the Penobscot County Jail in Maine until his terms of extradition are determined.
Police declined to discuss the circumstances of the arrest or elaborate on what led them to Karun.
(MORE: DNA leads to man's arrest 46 years after murder of 11-year-old Linda O'Keefe: 'We have never forgotten Linda')Following Karun's arrest, the Norwalk Police Department issued a Facebook post containing a statement from the Flynn family.
"We wish to thank the Norwalk Police Department for bringing Kathleen’s murderer to justice," the family's statement said. "This continues to be a very difficult time for us and we do not wish to make any further comments. We ask the media to please respect our privacy.”