78-year-old Fla. man acquitted in 1972 NY murder

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A 78-year-old man has been acquitted of bludgeoning to death a blind homemaker in upstate New York in 1972.

A jury deliberated for four hours Thursday before finding Willie James Kimble not guilty of sexually assaulting and killing Annie Mae Cray in her bed in Rochester on Oct. 29, 1972.

It was one of the nation's oldest cold-case murders to come to trial. Investigators uncovered DNA evidence in 2009 linking Kimble to the attack.

Defense lawyer Kevin Karnyski theorized Cray was killed by her husband during a quarrel. Ezra Cray told police an intruder knocked him unconscious with a firewood log.

Kimble, a twice-convicted sexual predator, lived most of his life in Rochester but returned to his hometown of Sarasota, Fla. while the slaying was being re-examined.