The Bergen County Prosecutor?s Office announced Thursday that it finally solved and arrested a suspect in the 1982 murder of a Ridgefield Park woman.
Angelo Speziale was among 700 who were interviewed by police after the murder of 19-year-old Michelle Mika. He was one of 500 fingerprinted in 1982, but no one was charged in the murder.
In 2005, Speziale was convicted of stealing from a Hackensack food store. At the time of that arrest, Speziale provided a DNA sample. That sample was later entered into the state police computerized data base and came up a match in the 1982 murder cold case.
Police say Speziale, now 45, lived next door to Mika in 1982. He is accused of stabbing Mika five times in the back and then sexually assaulting her. The prosecutor says sexual gratification appears to be the motive.
Speziale was arrested at a halfway house in Paterson. His bail is set at $2 million. He has a criminal history of shop lifting and drug offenses.