PAW PAW (WKZO AM/FM) — A suspect in a 33-year-old murder in Bangor has been arrested in California.
The arrest is the result of an 8-year cold case investigation that State Police began working full time last year.
51-year-old Michael Curry waived extradition over the weekend and is being held without bondat the Van Buren County Jail after he was arraigned on a homicide charge Monday afternoon.
Detective Lieutenant Shane Criger says Curry is charged with the 1986 death of 59-year-old Wilda Wilkinson who was found murdered in her home on Alexander St. Curry lived nearby in Bangor at the time and was one of several suspects identified in the original investigation.
Detective Criger says through interviews, the application of modern forensics and the elimination of other suspects, they were able to narrow the list to Curry.
Criger says Curry had been in prison until 2017 on the unrelated attempted murder of his roommate three years after the Wilkinson murder. During a call with an operator, he claimed he had killed the man, and that he was the “Night Stalker”.
Police were able to trace the call to a home on Walnut, make the bust and save the roommate, who was savagely beaten, but not dead.
Criger says they have more interviews to do that they were waiting to conduct until after Curry was in custody, to avoid tipping him off. He says they have a strong case against him that may get even stronger.
Criger says the victim was survived by a son and two daughters who have been in continuous contact with investigators and very interested in helping resolve the crime.
