DNA LEADS TO CHARGES IN 28-YEAR-OLD HOMICIDE

DNA evidence has led to special circumstances murder charges being filed against a 57-year-old Southern California man for the rape and murder of a 79-year-old Oakland widow 28 years ago, Alameda County Assistant District Attorney Tom Rogers said today.

Rogers said it's unusual for charges to be filed in such an old case, but he said old cases are being solved more frequently thanks to the expansion of California's DNA database and more aggressive efforts to match the DNA of victims and suspects.

Rogers said George Williams was scheduled to be arraigned today on murder charges and the special circumstance of committing a murder during the course of a rape.

The prosecutor said Williams is accused of killing Ione Helen Morrison at her apartment in the 3700 block of Park Boulevard in Oakland in the early morning hours of Aug. 13, 1978.

Morrison was found face down on her living room floor with both hands behind her back, according to Rogers. She died of strangulation and blunt trauma to her head, he said.

The case was unsolved for 28 years until authorities recently discovered a match between a DNA sample that Williams had to provide when he was released from probation in Orange County in November 2005 and DNA taken from Morrison's body.

Williams has a long record of burglaries and thefts, according to Rogers.

Williams told authorities he was a heroin addict for 40 years, starting at the age of 14, until he recently tried to become sober, Rogers said.

Williams was working for the Delancey Street Foundation, which tries to turn around the lives of substance abusers and ex-felons, in Beverly Hills at the time he was arrested last week.