John Nicholas Athan - a former Magnolia resident who has been living in New Jersey - was 14 when he allegedly raped and strangled Kristen Sumstad to death.
Police arrested Athan, now 35, after using a ruse to obtain a DNA sample from him, and the sample was matched to DNA recovered from semen found on Sumstad's body in 1982, police say. The ruse involved having Athan return a letter to a nonexistent law firm in which he agreed to take part in a fictitious class-action lawsuit over parking tickets. The authors of the letter were actually two Seattle cold-case detectives, and the DNA was obtained from saliva used to lick the envelope Athan allegedly sent, according to police.
Athan's attorney, John Muenster, has announced he plans to challenge the legality of the way the DNA sample was obtained. Police and the King County Prosecutor's office maintain the DNA sample was obtained legally.
Athan's next court appearance is scheduled for July 9.
