52-year-old Gerald L. Austin of Honolulu was charged Sunday with the murder and sex assault of 81-year-old Edith Skinner, a crime committed in July 1989.

He is being held on $200,000 bail and will have his preliminary court appearance Monday.

Austin was arrested Friday afternoon at his apartment on Kinau street after DNA technology identified the him as a suspect.

Police would not specify what kind of DNA evidence led to the arrest.

The 23-year-old murder of Edith Skinner was committed one July 25, 1989, around 4:50 a.m. at Skinner's apartment on the 7th floor of the Makua Ali'i Senior Citizen Housing Complex on Kalakaua Avenue. The complex was a secured building at the time.

According to the initial investigation, a man was seen leaving her apartment around 5 a.m. on the morning of the murder, but leads at the time did not pan out.

KITV spoke with Edith's son, Steve Skinner, in 2006 when the cold case was being investigated and again on Saturday when the arrest was made public . He said that Edith spent most of her life in Honolulu and was a talented hula dancer and excellent parent. "She loved dancing and going to the beach," Steve Skinner said in a 2006 phone interview. "She was a great mom."

He added that he was grateful at the time for the continuing efforts of the cold case workers, but that he has put the 23-year-old case behind him. "I was pleasantly surprised and I really commend the Honolulu Police Department for their follow through on this," Steve Skinner said Saturday. "Hopefully it will come to a good conclusion, but it came out of the blue. I had put it behind me."

Austin has eight prior criminal convictions, most notably a felony burglary charge in 1984 for which he spent five years in prison.

He was also convicted of a misdemeanor assault charge in 1979, a felony auto theft conviction in 1995 and several other misdemeanor charges including three traffic infractions and two contempt of court convictions.