Grand jury indicts suspect in 1972 cold case murder of Waikiki teen

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - A grand jury has indicted the 77-year-old suspected accused in a cold case murder of a teen in Waikiki.

Tudor Chirila was indicted with one count of second-degree murder in connection with the 1972 killing of 19-year-old Nancy Anderson.

Chirila was arrested in Reno, Nevada and is being held there pending extradition to Hawaii.

The 77-year-old man has been trying to convince a judge in Nevada not to send him back to Hawaii for prosecution.

Chirila told a Reno judge that he was unlawfully arrested at a hospital after police forced him to provide a saliva sample. Police said that sample tied him to the deadly stabbing.

Multiple detectives worked on the case over the years, but started gaining traction in December 2021 when police got a tip about Chirila, who lived in Hawaii in the 1970s and was a UH grad assistant.

DNA testing eventually linked him to a blood stained towel recovered from Anderson’s apartment.

In response to the indictment, Anderson’s family said “despite the many hurdles, we (Nancy’s nine siblings) never gave up hope that justice would be served.”

Chirila is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

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