MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) ― More than 17 years later, police have charged a 49-year-old man in the homicide of a woman who was physically and sexually assaulted before being strangled to death.
Minneapolis Police say Preston Arnold has been charged with murder in the second degree after DNA results from Glora Dean Clay's body were returned as a match to Arnold.
According to the criminal complaint, on March 19, 1993, Clay's partially frozen body was found lying on some railroad tracks near 4056 Washington Ave. N. The autopsy revealed that Clay had been strangled after being both physically and sexually assaulted.
At the time, biological samples were taken from Clay's body for potential DNA testing at a later date. Those samples were submitted to the Minnesota BCA in 2009 and were returned this year.
Homicide cold case investigators used evidence from underneath Clay's fingernails to provide the DNA match.
Arnold is currently in custody at the Hennepin County Adult Detention Facility. His bail has been set at $750,000.
