FIRST, AT 530, JURY SELECTION IS HAS BEGUN IN THE MURDER TRIAL OF A LOCAL MAN CHARGED WITH THE RAPE AND MURDER OF A 78 YEAR OLD LAKE WORTH WIDOW ALMOST 40 YEARS AGO. THANKS FOR STAYING WITH US. I’M FELICIA RODRIGUEZ AND I’M TIFFANY KENNEY. DNA LED DETECTIVES TO RICHARD LANG AFTER A SHERIFF’S OFFICE. COLD CASE UNIT REOPENED THE CASE BACK IN 2021. INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER TERRI PARKER JOINING US NOW WITH MORE ON HOW INVESTIGATORS CAUGHT UP WITH LANG. TERRY, IT WAS A HEARTBREAKING MISSED JURY BACK IN 1985, THE 78 YEAR OLD WOMAN WAS FOUND UNCONSCIOUS, NUDE AND BEATEN ALONG A REMOTE DIRT ROAD ABOUT 25 MILES FROM WHERE SHE HAD DISAPPEARED 7 HOURS EARLIER. UNTIL NOW, THERE WAS NO SUSPECT. DEPUTIES WHEELED RICHARD LANG INTO COURT IN A WHEELCHAIR TO FACE CHARGES OF KIDNAPING, RAPE AND MURDER. ACCORDING TO COURT DOCUMENTS, LANG WAS 25 WHEN HE CAME ACROSS MILDRED MATHENY, WHO SUFFERED FROM DEMENTIA AND HAVE WANDERED AWAY FROM HER SISTER’S LAKE WORTH HOME. NEIGHBORS SAY THEY SAW MILDRED WALKING DOWN THE STREET IN HER PAJAMAS, BUT NO ONE SAW HER ABDUCTION. A PASSERBY FOUND HER HOURS LATER IN JUPITER UNCONSCIOUS AND BEATEN. HER BLOOD STAINED DENTURES AND CLOTHING STREWN ALONG THE DIRT ROAD. MILDRED DIED 11 DAYS LATER FROM BLUNT FORCE TRAUMA TO HER HEAD AND OTHER INJURIES. THE ELDERLY WOMAN HAD BEEN RAPED WHEN SHERIFF’S INVESTIGATORS RAN DNA RECENTLY THROUGH THE STATE CRIME LAB DNA DATABASE. THEY GOT A MATCH WITH LANG. HE HAS A LENGTHY CRIMINAL RECORD, INCLUDING CONVICTIONS FOR AGGRAVATED ASSAULT AND WAS CONVICTED TWICE FOR WEAPONS CHARGES, MOST RECENTLY IN 2012. RIGHT TO CONTINUE IS. AND THEN THE PANEL WILL HEAR THE EVIDENCE AGAINST LANG. LINKING HIM TO THIS ABDUCTION AND MURDER OF AN ELDERLY WOMAN 37 YEARS AGO. TE