Suspect in 1983 murder arraigned in court

6/11/2013

A former Swanton Township man indicted last week for the 1983 murder of a Whitehouse woman is to be arraigned Wednesday before Lucas County Common Pleas Judge Gary Cook.

Andrew Gustafson, 56, of Birch Run, Mich., was indicted by a Lucas County grand jury on two counts of aggravated murder and one count of murder in the death of Janean Brown, 19, whose body was found buried in a ditch near his home Nov. 19, 1983. Her throat had been cut.

Mr. Gustafson, who was arrested Thursday at his workplace in Saginaw, waived extradition from Michigan and has been transported to the Lucas County jail, where he was held Monday pending arraignment.

Investigators said the county’s cold-case unit reopened the investigation in May, 2011, and brought the charges based in part on DNA evidence that wasn’t available in 1983.