Las Vegas, NV (KXNT) – Las Vegas Metro Police on Monday announced the arrest of a suspect in a cold case murder that went unsolved for more than 40 years.
At a news conference Monday, police say that 64-year-old Paul Nuttall was the man who killed Sandra DiFelice at her home near Bonanza and Maryland Parkway on the day after Christmas, 1980.
According to investigators, a phone call was made to Metro’s cold case division by DiFelice’s daughter, who was only three years old at the time of her mom’s death, and was not in the home at the time that her mom was attacked.
The daughter asked Metro detectives if there had been any movement in her mom’s case, and investigators realized that they had new ways to process DNA evidence. A sample taken from DiFelice’s fingernails turned up positive for Nuttall, who was arrested without incident late last week.
Detectives say the Nuttall was an acquaintance of DiFelice’s roommate.
Nuttall is currently being held at the Clark County Detention Center on open murder charges.