WATERVILLE, Maine (AP) — A Maine man has been charged with killing a woman who disappeared 34 years ago in Waterville on Christmas Eve, police said Friday.
Gerald Goodale, 61, was indicted Thursday for murder in the death of Janet Brochu of Waterville, officials said. He’s already in the Maine State Prison serving a sentence for murdering another woman, Geraldine Finn, in 1988.
New evidence that recently developed allowed prosecutors to present evidence about Brochu’s death to a grand jury, officials said.
State police detectives met with Goodale to inform him of the new charge on Friday. It’s unclear if he has an attorney.
“This case represents years of combined work by state, local and county investigators, prosecutors and skilled scientists who never relented in their pursuit of the truth and for justice for this victim, her family and friends,” said Col. John Cote, state police chief.
Brochu, 20, was out with friends on Christmas Eve 1987 when she separated from her group and then disappeared.
More than two months later, in March 1988, her body was found in the Sebasticook River in Pittsfield.
The Unsolved Homicide Unit, created by lawmakers in 2015, played a role in the investigation along with the central division of the state police major crimes unit, officials said.
