Convicted Killer Charged With 1980 Cold Case Murder

Harold Anthony Parkinson was in prison for an unrelated slaying when DNA linked him to 33-year-old sexual assault, murder

More than three decades after a woman was sexually assaulted and murdered in her Silver Lake apartment, prosecutors have charged a convicted killer in connection with her death.

Thirty-six-year-old Stephanie Sommers was found Aug. 30, 1980 dead inside her apartment in the 3500 block of Marathon Street. She had been sexually assaulted, beaten and stabbed to death.

DNA evidence from the crime scene led cold case investigators to Harold Anthony Parkinson, 55, who was serving 15-years-to-life sentence in Chuckawalla Valley State Prison for an unrelated 1981 murder in Los Angeles, according to LAPD.

No motive has been established for the killing.

Parkinson has been charged with one count of murder with a special allegation of rape. He remains in custody.

The District Attorney’s office said it will decide whether to pursue the death penalty at a later time. 

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