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Guilty verdict returned in cold case murder

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  • GEORGE F.LEE / GLEE@STARADVERTISER.COM
    Gerald Austin was found guilty on Wednesday of the 1989 murder of Edith Skinner.
  • KRYSTLE MARCELLUS / KMARCELLUS@STARADVERTISER.COM
    A photograph of a hair found on the body of Edith Skinner was shown as evidence during opening remarks in a case against Gerald Austin for the 1989 rape and murder of 81-year-old Edith Skinner on Monday, January 27, 2014.
  • KRYSTLE MARCELLUS / KMARCELLUS@STARADVERTISER.COM
    A photograph of Edith Skinner was shown during opening remarks in a case against Gerald Austin for the 1989 rape and murder of 81-year-old Edith Skinner on Monday, January 27, 2014.
  • KRYSTLE MARCELLUS / KMARCELLUS@STARADVERTISER.COM
    A photograph of Edith Skinner's bedroom was shown during opening remarks in a case against Gerald Austin for the 1989 rape and murder of 81-year-old Edith Skinner on Monday, January 27, 2014.
  • KRYSTLE MARCELLUS / KMARCELLUS@STARADVERTISER.COM
    2014 January 27 CTY - Deputy City Prosecutor Scott Bell gave his opening remarks for the jury trial of Gerald Austin in the 1989 rape and murder of 81-year-old Edith Skinner on Monday, January 27, 2014. Honolulu Star-Advertiser Photo by Krystle Marcellus
  • KRYSTLE MARCELLUS / KMARCELLUS@STARADVERTISER.COM
    Stephen Skinner, son of Edith Skinner, who was killed more than 23 years ago, was the first witness in the case against Gerald Austin.

A  jury in state court has returned a guilty verdict against a man on trial for the murder of an 81-year-old woman in a senior housing apartment building in 1989.

Gerald L. Austin, 54, was on trial in the July 1989 murder of Edith Skinner.  

Honolulu police recovered DNA from Skinner’s body but were not able to match it to Austin until 2011.

Austin was 29 years old at the time of Skinner’s murder and on parole for burglary.

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