SURFSIDE BEACH, SC — A man wanted in connection with the 1998 strangling of a Connecticut woman has been arrested in South Carolina.
Surfside Beach Police Chief Rodney Keziah says 51-year-old Gerald Brian Tuttle was arrested at a home on Tuesday. He faces a fugitive-from-justice charge and was being held without bond Wednesday pending extradition to Connecticut, where he is charged with murder.
The body of 60-year-old Gertrude Ochankowski was found floating in a shallow brook in a secluded area of East Hampton, Conn., on Jan. 12, 1998.
Authorities said that OchanÂkowski had been washing clothes at a Laundromat when an attacker took her into a vacant apartment, sexually assaulted her, then strangled her.
Her car was found outside the building, its engine still running.