The Gloucester man charged in conjunction with the 1976 Pike's Funeral Home slaying was arraigned this morning and ordered held without bail on first-degree murder charges.
Kevin Ireland, 54, was formally accused in Gloucester District Court of participating with two others in the murder 33 years ago of Eleanor Wadsworth, the funeral home manager who apparently walked in on a robbery in progress in the home where she worked and sometimes lived.
Wadsworth recognized Norman Pike, grandson of the funerla home's owner-operator, according to Assistant District Attorney Michael Patten, who said the motive for murder was to silence Wadsworth.
Pike, now 52, was also arrested last week in San Francisco, where he had been living under the alias of Dan Franklin. He is also charged in the Dec. 2, 1976, murder, and is fighting extradition from California, authorities have said.
The prosecutor this morning also identified Richard Joseph Kennedy — a man police say has since died — as the gunman who put three bullets into the back of Wadsworth's head. Police had said since the initial arrests last week that there had been a third suspect, but that the suspect was dead.
Ireland will be held without bail pending a probable cause hearing scheduled for April 26, officials said.
Patten said the break in the cold case was a re-interview with a woman named Donna Steiner, who informed police that Pike had told her the story of the robbery that turned into murder. Her story led police to Ireland, who has given police a taped confession, Patten said in court this morning.
We will update this story later today here at gloucestertimes.com as more information becomes available. To have text messages updating this story or other local Breaking News stories sent to your mobile phone, sign up for the Times' free text-alert service on the gloucestertimes.com home page.
For full continuing full coverage, look to tomorrow's print and online editions of the Gloucester Daily Times and gloucestertimes.com.
Richard Gaines can be reached at 978-283-7000, x3464, or via e-mail at rgaines@gloucestertimes.com.
Raw Video: Israeli Embassy Car Attacked
Coroner: Don't Know Houston's Cause of Death Yet
Valentine Greetings Sent Worldwide From Loveland
Greek Austerity Measures Spark Riots
Raw Video: Obama Budget Goes to Capitol Hill
Arab League Wants U.N. Help in Syria
Nordic Festival Puts North Korea in Spotlight
'Rumor Has It' Adele's Rolling in the Grammys
Grohl, Grammy Nominees Cut Up on the Red Carpet
Greece Passes New Austerity Deal Amid Rioting
Raw Video: Greek Rioting Ahead of Austerity Vote
Raw Video: Child Rescued After Kosovo Avalanche
Pop Music Superstar Whitney Houston Dies at 48
Whitney Houston's Church Mourns Her Passing
Reaction to Houston's Death at Clive Davis Party
79 Turtles Seized at Shanghai Airport
Fuel Removal Under Way on Capsized Italian Ship
Police: Houston Found Dead in Her Hotel Room
