A Washington state inmate has been charged in the 1989 murder of a South Lake Tahoe teen, El Dorado County officials said today.
On Jan. 29 the El Dorado County District Attorney's Office filed a criminal complaint charging Joseph Michael Nissensohn with the 1989 murder of South Lake Tahoe teenager Kathy Graves, El Dorado County District Attorney Vern Pierson said in a press statement.
Nissensohn is currently incarcerated Washington state where he was convicted of murder in 1991.
The new charge of murder was the result of intensive investigative work conducted primarily by the "cold case" investigative team from the El Dorado County Sheriff's Office and the DAs office, Pierson said.
Nissensohn is expected to remain in the custody of the state of Washington until he can be extradited to California to face the murder charges filed by El Dorado County.
Nissensohn was set to be released Feb. 8 from prison in Washington state. However, a judge ordered him held at the Pierce County Jail awaiting a probable cause hearing scheduled for next Thursday, according to the News Tribune in Tacoma, Wash.
The Washington newpaper reported that Nissensohn, 57, was convicted of stabbing a woman to death during a drug-fueled bondage session in the back of a van while his soon-to-be wife looked on.
Court records obtained by the Tahoe Daily Tribune show that Nissensohn was charged with first degree murder but was found guilty of second degree murder by a jury on Oct. 17, 1991.
At the time of his 1991 sentencing, prosecutors said that Nissensohn is also suspected in murders in California and Nevada, according to the News Tribune.