Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
A husband was being held without bail at the Baltimore County Detention Center on murder charges in connection with a 33-year-old homicide, Police said Tuesday.
More than three decades after the murder of Karen Ann Norton, 23, a grand jury indicted her then-husband, John Joseph Norton, on first-degree murder charges. Her murder was believed to be a burglary at the time, police said.
Norton was fatally stabbed in the upper body in her home in the 100 block of Delrey Avenue in Catonsville on Dec. 17, 1985. She had just come home from work, police said. The case went cold following the initial investigation.
Police said they first believed following the initial investigation that Norton was killed by an unknown suspect during a burglary. As detectives continued to work through the years, however, police began to close in on John Norton as the primary suspect.
Recent developments uncovered new evidence that further supported the theory that John Norton staged his wife’s murder, police said. The case was brought before the grand jury on Wednesday, May 1. An indictment was issued, and detectives served Norton with a warrant for his arrest after hearing the evidence.