Portland police arrest man in lawyer’s cold-case murder

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – Authorities say they’ve arrested a man in the decade-old murder of a public defender in Portland.

The Portland Police Bureau said Saturday that 28-year-old Christopher Alexander Williamson was taken into custody on Friday on a murder charge in the death of Nancy Bergeson, a prominent lawyer.

It’s unknown if the man knew Bergeson, who was a long-time assistant federal public defender.

She was found dead at the age of 57 in her home in November 2009. It was eventually determined that she was strangled to death.

But at the time she was discovered, her body was removed from the crime scene because authorities initially believed she died of natural causes.

That hampered the investigation and the cold case remained a mystery for years.

Police say they tracked down Williamson after a number of leads.