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Updated 3:04 p.m.
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) – A convicted sex offender, charged with murder, appeared in Suffolk Superior Court on Tuesday.
Richard Vega, 59, pleaded not guilty to being charged in the the 1988 murder of Judy Chamberlain.
Earlier this year, a grand jury returned an indictment against Vega. According to District Attorney Rachael Rollins, this was the first time the unsolved homicide got an indictment in 33 years.
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“Criminal investigations, especially homicides, are uniquely challenging,” Rollins said. “The passage of time only creates greater difficulty for investigators and prosecutors.”
However, the investigation into Chamberlain’s death was renewed through Rollins’ Project for Unsolved Suffolk Homicides.
“Ms. Chamberlain’s family has been waiting 33 years for answers [and] we were finally able to offer those answers,” Rollins said. “Her family and loved ones never stopped loving and missing her and we never stopped searching for answers.”
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Chamberlain was found strangled in the basement of her Seaport home on July 28, 1988. Biological evidence revealed that she was sexually assaulted by her killer.
After previously being convicted on multiple rape charges, DNA evidence connected Vega to Chamberlain’s murder. He was identified as a suspect in 2011.
Prior to, a jury found Vega sexually dangerous in 2008. He remains committed under Massachusetts’ sexually dangerous person statute.
Vega is currently being ordered held without bail.
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