Man charged with decades-old death of young Idaho girl

NAMPA (AP) — Authorities say a suspect in the decades-old sexual assault and slaying of a young Idaho girl has been formally charged with the crime.

David Dalrymple, 64, was arraigned Thursday on murder and rape charges in connection with the death of 9-year-old Daralyn Johnson. The child disappeared when she was walking to her Nampa elementary school in 1982, an a fisherman found her body near the Snake River three days later. She had been assaulted and drowned.

Within a year of the girl's death, another man was wrongfully convicted of the killing. Charles Fain, then 34 years old, was sentenced to death and spent decades behind bars, at one point coming within days of his scheduled execution before it was canceled amid concerns about his innocence. He was later exonerated and released after DNA testing excluded him as the killer.

Dalrymple is currently serving a 20-year-to-life sentence for lewd and lascivious conduct with a minor. The Canyon County Sheriff's Office announced in 2020 that new DNA testing identified Dalrymple as a suspect in the unsolved case. But they held off on proceeding with the case until COVID-19 restrictions eased.

Dalrymple has not yet had an opportunity to enter a plea, and has not yet been assigned a specific attorney. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Jan. 25.