Man Arrested in Slaying of Noted Geophysicist
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SAN DIEGO — Police on Friday arrested a 24-year-old man in the robbery and slaying of a renowned geophysicist who was killed while on a visit.
Paul Bradford Cain, 24, was arrested in Cabo San Lucas in Baja California and brought to San Diego, where he is in jail awaiting arraignment.
Stanley Keith Runcorn, 73, a professor at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks, was found dead in a downtown hotel room Dec. 5. He was instrumental in the development of radar during World War II and was a pioneer of the “continental drift” theory.
Cain, an amateur kick-boxer, had been living in the YMCA across the street from the aging hotel where Runcorn was staying. Police discovered a pager in Runcorn’s room that was traced to Cain.
An autopsy showed that Runcorn suffered severe kicks to the body and had been strangled.
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