After nearly 45 years, a man was arrested for the murder of Garnet Elizabeth Griffith in Maryland, according to Annapolis Police. Her case had gone unsolved since 1989. 

Police said 68-year-old William Cook Jr. was arrested on Oct. 9 at his home on West Washington Street in Annapolis. He is charged with murder, assault and rape in connection with Griffith's death, court records show. 

Officers responded to Griffith's home on Kensington Way on Jan. 12, 1989, where she was found dead inside her home. According to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, she had injuries consistent with a gunshot wound. 

According to our partners at the Baltimore Banner, Cook used to cut Griffith's grass when he was a teen. Police confronted him about the crime multiple times over the years, but Cook repeatedly denied having any involvement. 

The case remained cold for decades until detectives with the department's Criminal Investigation Division reopened it, reviewing old evidence and following new leads with the help of multiple partner agencies.

String of recent cold cases solved

Gtiffith's case is the most recent of numerous Maryland cold case arrests in recent weeks.

On Oct. 7, an incarcerated man was charged in connection with a 2007 cold case murder in Harford County, according to sheriff's officials.

Days prior, on Sept. 26, a man serving five life sentences in Delaware was identified as a suspect in the 1981 murder of Samuel Allen, Baltimore County police announced. Allen was killed in his Baltimore County home during a robbery. 

On Sept. 4, Howard County Police said they solved the oldest cold case in the county, identifying a formerly unknown woman killed in 1971 using advances in forensic technology.