Jimmy Lee Eacker allegedly killed Toni Lister, the wife of Eacker's trade school classmate, with a Phillips screwdriver in 1982.
Lister, 29, went missing after a night out with friends. Authorities found her in a wooded area near the city dump six weeks later. An autopsy showed she'd been sexually assaulted and stabbed in the head, chest and neck.
Eacker, now 57, was identified as a suspect early in the investigation, but it was DNA tests that led to his indictment in 2007. Eacker was working as a cook and handyman in Fairbanks when he was arrested.
A jury convicted Eacker last year. He was later sentenced to 99 years in prison, but Superior Court Judge Anna Moran threw out the conviction because a prosecutor withheld additional DNA evidence that might have pointed to another suspect.
On Tuesday, Judge Moran accepted a plea agreement between Eacker and state prosecutors reducing the charge to manslaughter, according to state cold case prosecutor Paul Miovas.
"(The judge's) only concern was whether the victim's family had been consulted, because they've been very active participants in everything," Miovas said. "She asked the family if they understood what was happening, if they were in agreement, and they said that they were."
Eacker's sentencing is set for April, Miovas said.
The prosecutor declined to comment on the decision to reduce Eacker's charge.
Reach Casey Grove at casey.grove@adn.com or 257-4589.
Important warning about e-mails purporting to be from the adn.com staff.