YAKIMA, Wash. (AP) - A 45-year-old man suspected of fatally stabbing his stepmother in California over 25 years ago has been arrested west of Yakima, Washington.
KVEW-TV reports cold case detectives from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department filed a warrant Sept. 19 for the arrest of Charles Duane Serena II, who goes by Duane after authorities received a tip that Serena was in the area. He was arrested late last week near White Pass in the Cascade Mountains.
On July 5, 1992, 40-year-old Valerie Serena was found dead in her home in Hesperia, California.
Court documents say Duane Serena stabbed her to death in her sleep.
Documents say Duane Serena recounted the killing to people over the years, allegedly saying he’d killed Valerie Serena in an effort to please his father, who was in the midst of a custody battle with her.
Duane Serena is being held in the Yakima County jail. It wasn’t immediately known if he has a lawyer.
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