A Wisconsin prison inmate currently serving time for theft and burglary charges in Rock County was charged Friday for a second time in the 1994 killing of a Madison woman.
Melvin Parker, 47, was charged in connection with the homicide of Dorothy Paige in Madison in August of 1994, police said. Paige was found stabbed and strangled to death in her bedroom of her Allied Drive apartment.
Parker has been a person of interest in the case since 1994, Madison Police Department spokesperson Joel DeSpain said. Parker was formerly charged with murder in 1998, but after a key witness disappeared the charges were dismissed, police said.
DeSpain said the Dorothy Paige homicide was the first case taken on by the Cold Case Review Team (CCRT), which launched last year. After the CCRT reviewed the case, it became an active investigation and the team eventually gathered enough evidence charge Parker again.
Madison Police Chief Noble Wray said Parker's conviction shows the department's commitment to pursuing cold cases.
""We're taking a new and fresh look at aging cases,"" Wray said in a statement.
