Michigan Man Arrested In 1997 Death Of Woman; He Was Teen At Time

LENNON, Mich. (AP) — A man who was a teenager in 1997 was arrested in the death of an 88-year-old woman, a slaying that was unsolved for nearly 25 years.

Mary Prieur emigrated from Czechoslovakia when she was a child and had a candy business in Flint. The discovery of her body in a swampy, wooded area stunned Lennon, a village in Genesee County, where she was regularly seen walking her dog Pookie.

Michael Bur, 41, was charged Thursday with murder, criminal sexual conduct and kidnapping. An autopsy revealed that Prieur was suffocated and beaten, MLive.com reported.

Bur was arrested at his Lennon home, which is near Prieur's former home. No attorney is listed yet in the court file.

Sheriff Chris Swanson said investigators used scientific analysis to place Bur at the scene of the crime. He didn't elaborate.

Swanson has tried to crack the case for years, long before he became sheriff. He said he interviewed Bur in 2004.

"It wasn't a very good exchange. ... I could tell he wasn't going to talk and I told him, 'Next time I see you, you'll be in shackles, you'll be charged with murder.' That day is today," Swanson said.