Man, 77, Arrested in Connection with 1969 Murder of 17-Year-Old Girl Found Dead in Roadside Ditch

A man in Oklahoma has been arrested over the death of a 17-year-old girl in Nebraska more than 55 years after her body was found in a roadside ditch.

On Monday, Nov. 18, the Saunders, Nebraska County Attorney confirmed in a press release shared on Facebook that Joseph A. Ambroz, 77, had been arrested in Ponca City, Okla. by the United States Marshals Service. He is facing a first-degree murder charge following the death of Mary Kay Heese, 17, on March 25, 1969.

“Ms. Heese was reported missing on the evening of March 25th, 1969 by her family and her body was discovered in a roadside ditch south of Wahoo just after midnight on the morning of March 26th, 1969,” Saunders County Attorney, Jennifer D. Joakim, said in the release.

“Mr. Ambroz will appear in Court in Oklahoma within the next couple of days for the start of proceedings to extradite him back to Nebraska,” the release stated.

Joakim didn’t immediately respond when contacted by PEOPLE for additional information.

Per Nebraska ABC-affiliated station KLKN, it was “unclear what new evidence” led to Ambroz’s arrest.

Okla. station KFOR reported that investigators had recently exhumed the victim’s body and performed a new autopsy. Joakim told the outlet Ambroz — who is accused of stabbing the teenager to death — hadn’t been living in Okla. very long before his arrest.

According to the Nebraska newspaper the Kearney Hub, the victim was a junior at Wahoo High School and had been seen having a hot chocolate in a café in the city after track practice before she disappeared.

The paper stated she was reportedly last seen by a teacher “walking alone up a tree-lined street near 12th and Linden streets in Wahoo, about six blocks from her family’s home.”

According to Nebraska NBC-affiliated TV station WOWT, investigators previously said that it was likely Heese had gotten out of a car and tried to run. The outlet stated footprints were found indicating someone had caught up with her and that evidence showed the victim fought back.

The station said the teenager’s family said she wouldn’t have gotten in a car with a stranger.

Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.

The victim’s cousin, Kathy Tull, told the outlet of the update in the case, “We kept calling state patrol. We kept calling and calling and calling, and where the case was with new evidence.”

“When we put up our own tip line. That’s when things really took off,” Tull said, per the station.

According to KFOR, Shawn Shafer — who had been staying nearby with a relative at the time of Ambroz’s arrest — said neighbors would often see the accused sitting on his porch. 

“He’s only been there, like, two weeks,” Shafer said, per the outlet. “We’ve seen coming and going over there, but I mean, he was older man. He had oxygen.”

The Kearney Hub reported the victim’s parents both died years ago. The outlet also stated law enforcement from Wahoo, Saunders County, Lincoln, Omaha, the Nebraska State Patrol and the FBI had looked at around 700 people amid the investigation through the years.