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Cold case arrest: "After 24 1/2 years, it is justice."

Posted at 1:35 PM, Apr 25, 2018
and last updated 2018-04-25 17:11:01-04

Investigators believe they have solved a nearly 25 year old mystery in North Tonawanda.

Wednesday afternoon, North Tonawanda police brought Joseph Belstadt to Niagara County Court for arraignment related to the unsolved death of Mandy Steingasser, a 17 year old whose decomposed body was found at Bond Lake Park in Lewiston in 1993.

Steingasser was last seen alive on September 19th, 1993, walking home from a party in North Tonawanda. Hikers discovered her body at Bond Lake Park a month later.

A friend of Steingasser's, Sarah Kraus ,tells Eyewitness News that Belstadt was believed to have picked up the teen in his vehicle while she was walking back from the party in 1993.

Prosecutors say new forensic evidence was a key factor in the arrest of Belstadt.

Belstadt has been charged with 2nd degree murder and is being held on $250,000 cash bail.

 

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