Sperm recovered from the body of an 81-year-old Waikiki woman murdered in 1989 led to the arrest of a Makiki man last week, according to a police statement submitted Monday.
The preliminary hearing for Gerald Austin, 52, will be held in District Court at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday.
He is being held in lieu of $200,000 bail after he was charged with second-degree murder and first-degree sex assault Friday in connection with the death of Edith Skinner, a former Ziegfeld dancer from New York City, in Makua Alii, a senior citizens housing complex on Kalakaua Avenue, on July 25, 1989.
A police affidavit filed in District Court Monday revealed that vaginal swabs containing sperm recovered from Skinner’s body in 1989 produced a male DNA profile in Nov. 5, 2005, that was entered into the state’s DNA index system.
Austin submitted a sample of his DNA in June 2010. The affidavit did not explain why he did so.
In 2011 the DNA sample recovered was matched to Austin’s DNA profile.
Austin was taken to the police station last year, and saliva samples were again taken from him. However, because he appeared to be have been drinking, he was not questioned, and he agreed to return for further questioning.
On Thursday police were informed that the saliva sample matched the earlier DNA profile found on the swabs recovered from Skinner.
When Austin was questioned on Friday, he said he did not know anything about the incident, did not know Skinner and never had any contact with her.
Skinner’s death initially was reported as an unattended death.
Maintenance workers had been asked to check on her because she failed to retrieve her morning paper.
The two workers went to her seventh-floor apartment at 2:40 p.m. and found the door unlocked. The woman was lying on her bed motionless.
During the investigation, police discovered that Skinner’s purse, bedsheet and pillowcases were missing.
Neighbors reported seeing a man leaving her apartment early in the morning on July 24 or July 25, 1989, carrying two stuffed pillowcases.
Dr. Kanthi De Alwis, then the city medical examiner, determined Skinner died from asphyxia caused by manual strangulation and that the manner of death was homicide.
Black pubic hairs not consistent with the victim’s pubic hair also were recovered from the victim’s genital area.
A full autopsy in 1989 by De Alwis led to the finding that Skinner had been raped and strangled.
After the autopsy the case was reclassified as second-degree murder.
Austin has eight convictions, mostly for misdemeanor offenses such as driving without a license, drunken driving and contempt of court, according to the state Criminal Justice Data Center. He was sentenced to five years in prison for a burglary conviction in 1984.
