A man arrested in Stetson nearly two years ago as Connecticut police tried to solve a 33-year-old cold case is now facing a child pornography charge in addition to the charges that he sexually assaulted and strangled an 11-year-old girl in 1986.
Marc Karun, 55, of Stetson was indicted for possession of child pornography on Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Bangor. The charge he faces is a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
Karun is currently being held in Connecticut for the killing of 11-year-old Kathleen Flynn in Norwalk, Connecticut. Flynn, who went missing on Sept. 23, 1986, while walking home from Ponus Ridge Middle School, was sexually assaulted and strangled to death. Her body was found by a search team early the next morning in woods near the middle school.
If convicted, Karun faces up to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The case sent shockwaves through the Norwalk community and garnered national headlines. Many were shocked that such a brutal act could occur in an unassuming community.
“In 21 years on the police force, I have not heard of anything like this happening here,” Norwalk Police Lt. Robert Fabrizzio told the New York Times shortly after Flynn’s body was found.
Karun was an early suspect in the case but was not arrested until June 2019, when police apprehended him in Stetson on charges of murder with special circumstances and kidnapping in the first degree. He had lived in the small town outside of Bangor since 2013.
Karun, a lifetime sex offender in Maine, had been convicted of sexually assaulting or kidnapping four female victims both before and after Flynn’s murder, according to court records. While there was no conclusive physical evidence tying Karun to Flynn, authorities noticed that his methods in those previous convictions were similar to those used in Flynn’s killing.
Karun is also facing federal firearms charges after police found 60 weapons and 15,000 rounds of ammunition in his Stetson home. As a convicted felon, Karun is not legally allowed to own any firearms.