VAN BUREN COUNTY, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — As of Monday, a man accused in a 1986 murder case has been sentenced to between 25 – 60 years in prison, MLive reported.
Police say that in 1986, Wilda Wilkinson was found dead in her home by her daughter. At the time, investigators working the case had developed several persons of interest; however, no suspects were arrested.
In 2010, the case was reopened by the Michigan State Police.
In March of 2019, DNA evidence linked a man named Robert Waite to the crime. Waite was one of the initial suspects in the case, and was 16 years old at the time.
At the time the discovery was made, Waite was serving time in a Florida prison for unrelated charges. MSP investigators traveled to Florida to interview Waite, who made a full confession to the crime.
On Tuesday, November 19th, 2019, MSP brought Waite to Michigan. He was arraigned on Wednesday, November 20th in Van Buren County 8th District Court.
He entered a guilty plea in August.
During his sentencing on Monday, October 19, Van Buren County Circuit Judge Kathleen Brickley said that Waite was able to commit other crimes against women since the Wilkinson case went unsolved. When he was apprehended in Florida, he had been serving a 25-year sentencing in a case involving charges of armed robbery, kidnapping and sexual assault, MLive reported.
He also had charges in other cases involving similar crimes of kidnapping and sexual battery.
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