It sounds as if this is indeed a significant development in the case. When they release the name of this individual today as a "Person of Interest", it will be only the second time in the past 39 years that MCP has done so.
The first time was back in late 1986 when Fred Howard Coffey, Jr. was tried and convicted of nine counts of Child Molestation against three children in North Carolina. At that time, MCP became interested in him as a POI and made similar pleas to the public for information regarding his presence in Maryland. They knew that he was in Maryland as early as April 1975, and probably earlier - but could not firmly establish his whereabouts on 25 March 1975.
A few months later - in 1987 -He was convicted of murdering a 10 year old girl in Charlotte, NC in 1979. He was sentenced to death, but after several re-trials the sentence was changed to life in prison WITH the possibilty of parole. He has remained in the North Carolina Prison system since.