NORWICH, CT (WFSB) -
It's a day the families of two murdered women have been waiting more than a decade for. Jury selection is scheduled to begin in the case against a man accused of strangling them to death in the 1990's.
Dickie Anderson was arrested for the killings a year ago. At that time it had been 12 and 13 years for the families since their loved ones were found dead.
Renee Pellegrino, 41, was found strangled to death in her hometown of Waterford in 1997. Friends said she'd had a promising future, even getting a law degree and passing the bar exam before turning to drugs and prostitution.
A year later, 29-year-old Michelle Comeau was found dead the same way - strangled and left on a back road in Norwich.
For years there were no arrests, and then in 2010 Connecticut State Police and the Southeastern Cold Case Unit took Anderson into custody.
Within months he was charged with both killings. His lawyer said police have DNA evidence connecting him to Pelligrino.
They filed an appeal to get the cases tried separately, but when his trial begins, prosecutors will try to connect him to both.
Anderson, 40, would have been in his 20s when the killings took place.
He is now a father of three.
He maintains his innocence, and so did many of his friends when he was arrested.
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