A Florida man accused of killing his wife in Somerset County nearly 28 years ago will be brought back to Pennsylvania by early May to face a homicide charge, according to Somerset County District Attorney Jerry Spangler.

John David Dawson, 59, today waived his right to an extradition hearing in Duval County, Fla. He was arrested and jailed in Jacksonville late Monday after a Pennsylvania state police cold-case squad found new information linking Mr. Dawson to a blackjack found at the scene of the death of Kathleen Dawson.

Ms. Dawson was 30 when she was killed Nov. 9, 1981, while returning home from her nursing job at Windber Hospital. State police have accused Mr. Dawson, a laborer for most of his life, of striking his wife in the head with the blackjack before putting her in the back of her car on Soap Hollow Road and burning it.

Mr. Spangler said a national transport service would bring Mr. Dawson back to Pennsylvania, likely by May 4.