Retrial of Indiana man charged in 1979 killing begins

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — The retrial of a convicted sex offender charged in the 1979 slaying of a 20-year-old woman and the attempted killing of her young son has begun in western Indiana.

A Vigo County jury heard opening arguments Monday in the trial of 55-year-old Richard Boswell Jr., who's charged with murder in the May 1979 strangulation death of Kathy Jo Baker and attempted murder for attacking her then-2-year-old son, Ryan.

The Tribune-Star reports that the wounded boy was found crying next to his mother's body in woods near their Riley-area home.

Boswell's first murder trial ended in a January mistrial. He was charged after DNA taken from a T-shirt Kathy Jo Baker was wearing matched Boswell's DNA, which was in a state database because of his criminal record.