Man Arrested In North Carolina For 1988 Cold Case Murder Of Ex-Girlfriend

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PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A man was arrested in December for the 1988 murder of a Philadelphia woman. Charles Maitland was arrested in Fayetteville, North Carolina, on Dec. 21 for the murder of Debra Wiggins. Maitland was Wiggins' ex-boyfriend, according to Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner.

Wiggins' body was found down an embankment off the southbound lanes of Route 309 in Lower Gwynedd Township on Nov. 1, 1988. She was suffocated.

More than 30 years later, the arrest offers possible closure for Wiggins' family.

Maitland claims he doesn't know anything about Wiggins' murder, but police aren't buying it.

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"The victim, Ms. Wiggins and the defendant were living together in Philadelphia at the time. That's where she was last seen," said Anthony Voci, the chief of Philadelphia DA's Office Homicide Unit.

Wiggins wouldn't be seen again until months later. Her body was found badly decomposed down by an embankment off the southbound lanes of Route 309 in Lower Gwynedd Township on Nov. 1, 1988.

Thirty-one years later, detectives believe they've cracked the cold case.

"Mr. Maitland was not very careful in some of the things that he said," said Voci. "One of the things that he actually spoke about was how Ms. Wiggins was gone and dead and that happened to be a conversation months before her body was even found."

Along with old-fashion police work, officials also contribute the arrest to advancements in technology.

"One of the things we had to employ was technology to even identify the victim because her body was so badly decomposed. We got an artist to put a bust together to identify the victim," said Voci, adding that DNA was used as part of the investigation.

Maitland was also involved with the 1989 death of his landlord. Police say Ronald Alston was found strangled on April 21, 1989, in the same area where Wiggins' body was found.

Alston rented a property to Maitland on the 3100 block of North Park Avenue in the Glenwood section of Philadelphia at the time. Maitland was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter in September 1991 and was sentenced to two to 10 years in prison.

In December 2015, Pennsylvania State Police developed new investigative leads and obtained more evidence after conducting an entire assessment of Wiggins' case.

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The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office charged Maitland with homicide, abuse of corpse and other related charges.

Maitland was held in the Cumberland County, North Carolina Detention Center, and was extradited to Philadelphia.

For now, Maitland's fate will be left in the hands of a jury.