A man arrested in a southwestern Michigan cold case slaying was not charged in the years after the killing despite alleged confessions to police.

Michael Leon Curry was charged Monday in Van Buren County with murder in the 1986 strangulation of 59-year-old Wilda Wilkinson in her Bangor home.

WOOD-TV reports that a state police investigator testified earlier this month that in the late 1980s, Curry told police about his involvement in Wilkinson's death and that an anonymous letter sent to police in 1989 provided details about the slaying and had Curry's fingerprints on it.

Retired Bangor police Det, Tim Wydick tells the television station that after the slaying it was believed Curry "was trying to get attention."

Wydick says the case went to prosecutors at the time, but no warrant ever was issued.

The prosecutor's office declined to comment Friday on the case. The Associated Press was unable to reach Curry's lawyer for comment.

Curry, now 51, was living in California when he was arrested last week.

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Information from: WOOD-TV, http://www.woodtv.com