Idaho man arrested after DNA match in unsolved 1973 California case

Boise, Idaho (CBS2) — According to CBS, an Idaho man was arrested after investigators in California used his DNA to link him to an unsolved 1973 case.

Investigators in Marin County were able to use DNA to link 75-year-old Michael Eugene Mullen to the sexual assault and murder of Nina “Nadine” Fischer in 1973.

According to investigators, Fisher was sexually assaulted and killed in her San Rafael home in the middle of the day while her husband was at work.

The case was initially dropped due to a lack of investigative leads, but was reopened in 2021 when the Marin County Sheriff's Office turned the case over to the California Department of Justice's Family Tracing Program. The program was able to provide a lead after months of reviewing evidence, and three years later, investigators were able to identify Mullen as a suspect.

Mullen was arrested by authorities in Lemhi County, where he awaits extradition to California.