The Stetson man charged with the 1986 murder of 11-year-old Kathleen Flynn in Norwalk, Connecticut, was set on Friday to be extradited from Bangor to Connecticut.
Maine State Police arrested Marc Karun, 53, on Wednesday on a fugitive from justice charge, a mechanism used to arrest suspects for crimes committed in other states.
Police in Connecticut have been investigating the case for nearly 33 years. Kathleen’s body was found in the woods Sept. 23, 1986, about 100 feet from the path by the school’s tennis courts on which she often walked home. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled to death.
Lt. Art Weisgerber and Sgt. Alex Tolnay from the Norwalk Police Department were in Bangor to execute an arrest warrant for Karun. He will face charges in Connecticut for murder with special circumstances and kidnapping in the first degree, since the statute of limitations has run out on a charge for sexual assault.
Maine State Police found 10 guns in Karun’s Stetson home on Wednesday night that he was not authorized to possess, District Attorney Marianne Lynch said. She opted to waive the firearm charge so Karun could answer to the more serious charges in Connecticut.
“The fact that he waived his extradition today caused us to drop our charges,” Lynch said. “If he had a charge up here, that would delay his return to Connecticut.”
Karun was eyed as a suspect less than two weeks after Kathleen’s death. He has been previously convicted in four sexual assault or kidnapping cases that involved four different female victims, including one that same year at Kathleen’s death, according to a police affidavit. The Kathleen Flynn murder followed a similar pattern as his other assaults, police said.
That information kept police to going back to Karun and prevented them ruling him out as a suspect even in the absence of conclusive DNA testing.
If you or someone you know needs resources or support related to sexual violence, contact the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault’s 24/7 hotline at 800-871-7741.