A forensic breakthrough has allowed police to arrest a man over a Sydney murder unsolved for more than 30 years.
The 63-year-old has been extradited from Victoria as a suspect in the 1986 killing of Tatiana Sokoloff during a late-night house break-in at Haberfield in the city's inner west.
Ms Sokoloff, 56, was found on the back verandah with an autopsy revealing she died from head injuries and strangulation.
Detective Inspector Stewart Leggat said police made a forensic breakthrough when reviewing the murder last year.
The 63-year-old accused was extradited from Victoria as a suspect in the 1986 murder. Source: AAP Image/Joel Carrett
"The case is reviewed and then we go over all the statements and running sheets and rebuild the brief of evidence," he told reporters in Sydney on Friday.
"Then we have a major crime review where the forensics are looked at. It's painstaking work; it takes a lot of time."
The force's unsolved murder unit formed Strikeforce Nickleby to investigate the killing.
The suspect was flown to Sydney on Friday after being taken into custody by Victorian detectives in a car park at St Alabans in Melbourne's northwest the previous afternoon.
He is scheduled to appear in court on Saturday.
