The man accused of raping and strangling an 81-year-old woman in her apartment in 1989 was on parole for burglary at the time and had access to the secured elderly housing complex because his grandparents lived there, said Scott Spallina, supervisor of the city prosecutor’s elder abuse unit.

An Oahu grand jury returned an indictment today charging Gerald L. Austin, 52, with second-degree murder in connection with the July 1989 death of Edith Skinner. Austin was 29 when he allegedly committed the murder.

Because Skinner was at least 60 years old, the prosecutor is seeking the state’s harshest penalty: life in prison without the opportunity for parole. The normal penalty for second-degree murder is life in prison with the possibility for parole.

Austin remains in custody unable to post $200,000 bail.