A convicted killer already serving a 15-years-to-life sentence for murder appeared in court Thursday for the 1980 murder of former Newhall resident Stephanie Sommers.
Harold Anthony Parkinson, 58, appeared in a Los Angeles County courtroom, where he was ordered to return to court on May 25 for a pre-trial conference, at which time a date is expected to be set for his trial.
On Aug. 30, 1980, shortly after she moved to the Silver Lake district of Los Angeles from Newhall, Sommers was murdered in her apartment. She was 36 years old.
The case remained unsolved for more than three decades, until detectives arrested Parkinson on June 19, 2014.
Sommers was found dead inside her Silver Lake apartment in the 3500 block of Marathon Street.
She had been beaten and stabbed, prosecutors for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release issued at the time of Parkinson’s arrest.
Forensic evidence taken from the crime scene 34 years ago and processed just four years ago was linked to Parkinson, who is currently serving a 15-years-to-life for an unrelated 1981 murder in Los Angeles.
The day after he was arrested for Sommers’ murder by detectives assigned to the Cold Case section of the Los Angeles Police Department, Parkinson was arraigned on one count of murder with the special circumstance allegation of rape.
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