KINGSTON, ONT.— Family members of a Kingston man murdered 39 years ago say the arrest of a suspect is a like an early Christmas present.

“I felt good, it’s been a long time,” Doreen Glendenning, 79, said Wednesday, after a news conference at police headquarters.

She is a niece of the victim, Marshall Augustus (Teddy) Matier.

Police announced today that Joseph Clifford Edward Langford, 66, of Winnipeg, Man., has been charged with non-capital murder in the 1970 killing of Matier.

His death in July that year devastated family.

“He was a man who would never hurt anybody,” said Glendenning, who is one of only a few surviving family members.

She said Matier’s six brothers and sisters are dead and his parents long deceased.

Glendenning said it has been difficult wondering for nearly four decades why Teddy died. She said she feels “great” about the news of an arrest.

“I feel that Teddy will be able to rest, put it that way and the rest of us will be able to rest too,” she said.

Matier was found dead behind the Kingston armouries building. He had been stabbed to death.

Investigators had suspects at the time, but could not crack the case.

Cold case investigator Det. Brian Pete said he and partner Det. Matt Funnell began working on the case 15 months ago. He would not say if new information led police to the arrest.

“Looking at a cold case, we take everything that was done prior and re-evaluate it and in some aspects re-investigate it, just to satisfy ourselves that certain things have been covered off,” Pete said. “This was a name that appeared in the original file and through further investigation we’ve come to make the arrest.”

Langford was arrested on Monday at his home in Winnipeg and flown back to Kingston.

He appeared briefly Tuesday before a Superior Court judge. He appears again Wednesday afternoon at provincial court.

Langford is charged under the laws of the 1970, meaning he faces a count of non-capital murder, akin to today’s charge of second-degree murder.