ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Alaska State Troopers say they've arrested a 62-year-old Oregon man in connection with the 1978 death of teenage Anchorage girl.
Troopers say Gresham, Oregon, police assisted in the arrest Friday of Donald F. McQuade in connection with the death of 16-year-old Shelley Connolly.
The teenager's body was found in a ditch along the Seward Highway, about 15 miles south of Anchorage.
Troopers say genetic DNA testing linked McQuade to her death, and he was never a suspect before that match.
Past media reports say an autopsy determined the girl was sexually assaulted, beaten, dragged by a car and thrown down an embankment. Her fingernails were broken, indicating she might have tried to crawl back up the embankment.
Online Alaska court records don't list an attorney for McQuade.