Almost 41 years after a carpenter was found beaten to death in his home, the Newport Beach Police arrested a 70-year-old man on cold charges.
Larry Manatt was arrested Friday on suspicion of murdering Ronald Gaskey, the Newport Beach Police Department said in a social media post. Manatt, a Huntington Beach resident, was arrested on suspicion of murder, days before the 41st anniversary of Gaskey’s death.
Gaskey was found beaten to death in the hallway of her Newport Shores home on Dec. 13, 1983, the Orange County Register reported days after her murder. Gaskey, 35, was found by his girlfriend who went to check on him after he did not show up for work at his local construction company. Authorities say he was beaten with a blunt instrument, but there was no information about the suspect, the newspaper reported.
“It’s really a mystery,” Newport Beach police spokesman Tom Little told reporters.
Detectives collected evidence from the home and interviewed many people when Gaskey’s body was found, and a few years ago the case was reopened, police said. Detectives reviewed the case file and completed additional interviews, which led them to Manatt as their suspect.
The case was referred to a superior court judge and the department obtained a warrant for Manatt’s arrest. He was taken into custody without incident, according to police.
Anyone with information about the case can contact Newport Beach Police Detective Kyle Markwald at (949) 644-3762 or kmarkwald@nbpd.org.
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