A New York man has been arrested in the cold-case slaying of a pregnant New Jersey teenager whose remains were found on a riverbank in eastern Pennsylvania more than four decades ago, authorities said.

A criminal homicide charge was filed Wednesday against 63-year-old Luis Sierra of Ozone Park, New York, state police said. Police said numerous interviews and other police work over the decades resulted in the arrest in the 1976 death of 15-year-old Evelyn Colon of Jersey City.

Troopers were called five days before Christmas in 1976 to investigate human remains found on the bank of the Lehigh River just outside of White Haven in Carbon County. The remains found in three suitcases beneath an Interstate 80 overpass were those of a female and a nearly full-term fetus, police said.

The death of the female was long ruled a homicide and authorities had asked for help from the public in identifying the remains. Forty-four years later, the remains have been identified as those of Colon, police said Wednesday.

No further information was released, but police promised more “in the near future." LehighValleyLive said District Attorney Michael Greek declined additional comment Wednesday and the district court in Weatherly where the charges were filed said no more information would be released until the arrest warrant is served.

Sierra, who was 19 at the time the body was found, is in custody awaiting extradition, police said. Court documents don't list a defense attorney who could comment on the charge, and a listed number for Sierra couldn't be found Wednesday.

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