AGAWAM -- The wail of police sirens late Monday afternoon signaled a grim homecoming for the first man ever to be charged in the 1992 abduction, rape and murder of 24-year-old Lisa Ziegert.

A convoy of local and state police vehicles pulled up outside the police department on Springfield Street, lights flashing, as a long line of Agawam police officers, including Chief Eric Gillis, solemnly awaited its arrival.

Two Massachusetts State Police detectives emerged from an unmarked car in the center of the fleet with murder suspect Gary Schara, of West Springfield. The detectives escorted him inside the building for booking as local media members recorded the entrance.

Schara, 48, was arrested at a hospital in Connecticut, and appeared in Rockville Superior Court in Vernon, Connecticut early Monday afternoon. Clad in a red jumpsuit, he was led into a reasonably quiet courtroom previously filled by standard arraignments and hearings.

Around 1 p.m. the judge read Schara his rights and informed him he had the ability to fight extradition to Massachusetts, where he had been charged through a fugitive warrant.

"Yes, sir," Schara responded quietly as the judge asked him whether he understood what was happening during the proceeding.

Schara later complimented the investigators who arrested him and were poised to bring him back to answer the charges.

"They were all very professional," Schara informed the judge before being led in handcuffs and shackles from the courtroom.

Police searched Schara's home Friday and took away potential evidence including items that provided a DNA match to a sample found at the murder scene, officials have said.

The arrest warrant application states members of the Central District Major Crime Squad in Connecticut were recruited on Sept. 14 to assist in locating Schara.

"On 9/14/2017, a known associate to Schara voluntarily came forward to Massachusetts State Police and provided documentation involving Schara's involvement in the death of Lisa Ziegert, to include a suicide note," the two-page application reads.

That day, state troopers tracked Schara's cell phone and found him at the Johnson Memorial Hospital emergency room in Stafford Springs, Connecticut, where he had sought treatment, it adds.

Massachusetts troopers obtained an arrest warrant on Sept. 15 and executed it Saturday. Schara was admitted to the hospital over the weekend, according to the paperwork.

Investigators recounted the tale of Schara's arrest Monday afternoon during a press conference held by Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni.

Schara, reportedly a bar manager, tried to kill himself after police contacted him to consent to a DNA sample, and recounted details of the murder in handwritten notes turned over to investigators, Gulluni said.

Ziegert was a recent college graduate and teacher's assistant when she was abducted from her part-time evening job at a gift and card shop on April 15, 1992. Her body was recovered four days later on Easter Sunday in a wooded area off Route 75, also known as Suffield Street. She had been raped and her throat had been cut, police said.

Schara has been charged with murder, aggravated rape and kidnapping. He is scheduled for arraignment in Westfield District Court Tuesday.

The savage case maintained a high profile over the years thanks to Ziegert's family and generations of police who remained devoted to finding her killer. Investigators said they had looked at hundreds of suspects over the past 25 years.

Gulluni said Monday Schara had been a person of interest since 1993.

While it is yet unclear exactly how Schara landed on law enforcement radar, sources familiar with the investigation said the suspect is not new to the landscape.

While Schara graduated from Longmeadow High School a year after Ziegert graduated from Agawam High School in 1986, investigators have not determined whether the two knew each other.