Retrial for man accused in 1986 killing of 11-year-old Norwalk girl scheduled for March

prosecutors intended to retry Mark Caron for the murder of an 11-year-old Norwalk girl back in 1986. We now know that will happen next year. Caron appeared in court where the judge set jury selection for March 15th, with evidence beginning March 29th. The second trial comes after the first ended in a mistrial in April after an allegation of possible evidence contamination 40 years ago. Karen is accused of killing Kathy Flynn as the sixth grader walked home from Ponus Ridge Middle School. He was 21 at the time. Police found Kathy's body in the woods about 100 feet off the school path she used daily. She'd been strangled and sexually assaulted. It was a crime that haunted the community and changed the way people lived. The case remained cold until June 2019 when police arrested Karen citing advancements in DNA technology. The pandemic and federal gun charges against Karen delayed his trial until this past spring. During it, DNA experts testified that a hair found on Kathy's body and fingernail scrapings from her autopsy pointed to Karen. But jurors never got the case. The judge declared a mistrial after the prosecution disclosed he had received an email from a retired Norwalk police officer who said back in 1986, a state crime lab official told him Flynn was placed in a used body bag. The judge noted there was no record corroborating that, but said he had to grant a mistrial to give Karen's legal team ample time to investigate the claim. We'll see how it factors into the retrial. We'll have a closer look at today's developments on later newscasts. In Stamford, Marissa Alter, News 12.