Prison inmate charged with 1982 killing

CARBONDALE, Ill., Aug. 31 (UPI) -- An Illinois prison inmate has been charged with raping and strangling a Southern Illinois University student 25 years ago.

At a news conference Friday, Carbondale police said they were able to link Timothy Krajcir, 62, to the killing of Deborah Sheppard by DNA evidence, The Chicago Tribune reported.

Sheppard was 23 when she died. Her body was found naked in her apartment with the door left slightly open and the telephone cord cut. At the time, Krajcir was also a student at the university. He has a criminal record that goes back to the 1960s.

He has been behind bars since 1983 in Pennsylvania and Illinois, and is currently in the Big Muddy Correctional Center.

Sheppard, a marketing major, was from Olympia Fields, a Chicago suburb.