WBRZ - Baton Rouge

BATON ROUGE - Twenty-five years after the body of 19-year-old Tina Marie Kristynik was found in her Baton Rouge home, jury selection is scheduled to begin in the trial of the man accused in her rape and beating death.

State District Judge Tony Marabella will preside over Vernon Kennedy's trial which is set to begin Monday.

The Advocate reports the case remained cold until January 2007 when authorities said DNA evidence linked the killing to Kennedy.

An East Baton Rouge Parish grand jury indicted Kennedy last November on a second-degree murder charge.