| For Immediate Release Case # 08NF0487 February 21, 2008 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Public Affairs Counsel Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami |
ESTRANGED HUSBAND TO BE ARRAIGNED
FOR 1983 MURDER OF HIS WIFE AFTER
BEING LINKED THROUGH DNA
FULLERTON – An estranged husband has been charged with murdering his wife 25 years ago after being linked to the crime through DNA evidence. William Gregory Mordick, 62, Spokane, WA, is scheduled to be arraigned tomorrow on an amended complaint for one count of murder with the special circumstance of murder for financial gain. He faces life without the possibility of parole if convicted. Mordick was arrested on Wednesday, February 6, 2008 at his home in Spokane. The defendant waived extradition and is being brought back to Orange County today. He is being held on $1 million bail and is scheduled to be arraigned tomorrow, Friday, February 22, 2008 at the North Justice Center in Fullerton. The time and Department are to be determined.
On January 22, 1983, Mordick is accused of driving to the Anaheim Hills home of his estranged wife, Katherine, with whom he had two daughters, ages 2 and 4 years old, and murdering the victim by slashing her throat. Katherine was discovered the following day by a family member who went to check on her after becoming concerned when the victim didn’t return calls.
The case went unsolved until the Orange County District Attorney’s Office Task Force Review Aimed at Catching Killers, Rapists, and Sexual Offenders (TracKRS) Unit linked Mordick to the murder through physical evidence from the scene using DNA technology, which was not available in 1983.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Dan Wagner of the Homicide Unit is prosecuting this case.
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