A surprise announcement in Cedar Rapids last night, exactly 39 years to the day after Michelle Martinko was stabbed to death outside Westdale Mall where the teenager had been shopping.

Cedar Rapids Police Chief Wayne Jerman said after “weeks of planning and strategizing,” authorities went to Manchester yesterday and arrested Jerry Burns. Jerman says a covert DNA sample led to the break in the case.

Martinko was 18 and a senior at Kennedy High School. Burns would have been 25 at the time of Martinko’s murder. He’s scheduled to make an initial court appearance Thursday morning.