MORGAN CITY — A man who, 26 years ago, was arrested for the death of a woman was booked by Morgan City Police on Wednesday for another woman's death that happened a few months before he was arrested in 1998.

John Willis Pittman Jr., 44, was brought from Elayn Hunt Correctional Center to Morgan City to be charged with the second-degree murder of Amber Lynn Jenkins Garcia, a case that went cold during its initial investigation in October 1998.

A few months later on Christmas Day 1998, Jennifer Vedol's body was found. Shortly after this, Pittman, 18 at the time, was arrested and sentenced to 40 years in Elayn Hunt for manslaughter. Pittman's parole date is currently set for July 2034.

Investigators reopened the Garcia cold case and, using increasingly more advanced DNA evidence technology, Pittman was linked to her murder.

Pittman is still serving his sentence at Elayn Hunt, but he will face new charges relating to Garcia's murder pending a trial. Second-degree murder carries a sentence of life in prison.