Detectives arrested an Ohio man in connection with the 1987 stabbing death of a Lake Alfred woman.

Carl Junior McCauley, 64, was arrested Wednesday in connection with the death of Karen Ann Watson, 41.

According to investigators, Watson's husband arrived at the couple's home on the afternoon of March 24, 1987 and found his wife's body on the living room couch in their home. 

Watson's death was ruled a homicide, and the autopsy results indicated Watson had had sex just before her death, officials said.  Witnesses reported possibly seeing a white man in some sort of uniform shirt in the neighborhood at the time of the murder, and a beige-over-gold car at the Watson home.

Two years later, detectives interviewed Jacqueline McCauley, whose name had come up as a friend of the Watsons. Detectives said she told them both she and her husband, Carl, knew the Watsons and had been to their home.

Detectives said they learned Carl McCauley did not show up at his job on the day of Watson's death, and that employees of that company wore blue uniform shirts. They also said McCauley drove a beige-over-gold Chevy Nova at the time.

Investigators said they also learned the McCauleys were seen arguing at a Lake Alfred bar that morning, about six miles away from the crime scene.  McCauley was not seen or interviewed by detectives at the time, officials said.

On June 3, 2014, cold case homicide detectives found McCauley in Sandusky and traveled there to interview him. Detectives said he told them he had never been inside the Watson home and that he had not had a sexual relationship with Karen Watson.  

Detectives collected a DNA sample from McCauley and brought it back to Florida, where it was sent to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement lab for DNA analysis and comparison.

On June 27, detectives received the lab results, which said McCauley's DNA was a positive match for two separate samples of DNA left at the crime scene.

Detectives also interviewed a girlfriend of McCauley's during their investigation. They said she told them McCauley said he had been interviewed by detectives about the homicide of a woman with whom he'd had sex but did not kill. Detectives said that directly contradicted what McCauley told them.

McCauley was arrested on Aug. 27. Detectives said he told them after he was arrested that he'd had sex with Watson but that he did not kill her. He then asked to speak to an attorney.

McCauley will be extradited to Polk County to face first-degree murder charges.