A significant legal step was taken Friday in the 1972 slaying of 19-year-old Nancy Elaine Anderson, who was found on the floor of her Waikiki apartment with 63 stab wounds.

An Oahu grand jury Friday indicted former Nevada deputy attorney general Tudor Chirila Jr., 77, on a charge of second-degree murder.

Chirila, who was 26 at the time of Anderson’s Jan. 7, 1972, killing, was charged Sept. 12 with murder by criminal complaint in Honolulu District Court. The judge issued a warrant for his arrest and denied him bail. Reno, Nev., police arrested Chirila on Sept. 13.

The Oahu grand jury issued a bench warrant Friday and set his bail at $1 million.

Anderson had just moved to Hawaii from Michigan and was working at the Ala Moana Center McDonald’s restaurant. Chirila at the time was a graduate assistant at the University of Hawaii.

According to Anderson’s roommate, the victim had been talking to two men selling silverware just prior to her death. The roommate said she went to take a nap, and when she awoke, she found Anderson covered in blood in their unit at Coral Terrace Apartments on Aloha Drive, police said.

“Despite the many hurdles, we never gave up hope that justice would be served,” read a written statement from Anderson’s nine siblings that was provided Friday by the Honolulu Department of the Prosecuting Attorney. “We always had strong faith that all things would be resolved in God’s time.”

Honolulu Prosecutor Steve Alm praised the Honolulu Police Department and the DNA analysts who cracked the 50-year-old case and provided the evidence pointing to Chirila, who lives in Reno.

Chirila is fighting extradition to Hawaii. During a court hearing Wednesday in Reno, he claimed his constitutional rights were violated by the police who arrested him and earlier forced him to provide a DNA sample, The Associated Press reported.

The now frail-looking Chirila told the judge that Reno police got rough with him during the collection of DNA samples and told him they could “beat the hell out of me if necessary” to accomplish the task.

The judge said the officers were authorized to use any reasonable force to obtain the DNA sample and that any legal challenge of his arrest would have to come in Hawaii, where he will be tried.

The judge agreed to appoint a public defender and set an Oct. 17 hearing for Chirila in Reno, which was rescheduled from Oct. 3. The Reno district attorney said he is seeking a governor’s warrant in Hawaii for Chirila’s extradition.

An affidavit in support of the arrest warrant by HPD Detective Michael Ogawa said that a Sept. 1 search warrant was obtained authorizing the collection of a cheek swab and/or other biological samples from Chirila. Based on Ogawa’s affidavit, a Reno police detective obtained a search warrant and seizure order that same day authorizing any peace officer in Washoe County to detain the suspect for the purpose of collecting his DNA.

The Reno detective found Chirila on Sept. 6 at his home in Reno and had a police chemist take DNA samples, which were shipped to HPD. The DNA profile of the samples taken from Chirila matched samples taken from a bloodstained towel in Anderson’s bedroom, police said.

Chirila attempted suicide Sept. 8, two days after the DNA collection, the affidavit said.

After receiving word that Honolulu police had obtained a warrant for Chirila’s arrest Sept. 12, Reno police took him into into custody Sept. 13 at a Reno hospital, where he had been taken following the attempted suicide, the AP reported.

HPD Maj. Jared Hiramoto, commander of the Criminal Investigation Division, said in a written statement Friday that despite numerous interviews with witnesses and following up on several leads, detectives were unable to identify a suspect at the time, and the case went cold.

In December 2001, HPD processed several pieces of evidence, and in December 2002 the DNA of an unknown male was obtained from the evidence and uploaded to a national database, but no match was found, police said.

In 2019, Ogawa contacted Parabon NanoLabs in Virginia to help identify potential suspects based on the DNA profile of an unknown male whose DNA was found at the crime scene. In December 2019, Parabon contacted Ogawa saying they had a potential suspect, Tudor Chirila.

“On behalf of Chief Logan, I want to thank all of the individuals and agencies that made today possible,” Hiramoto said. “I would like to especially thank Detective Ogawa for his dedication and tireless pursuit of justice for Nancy and her family.”