HOOKSETT, N.H. (AP) – Victor Paquette spent 20 years waiting for the phone call he got Wednesday.

Police had charged a man with first-degree murder in the death of his brother, Daniel Paquette.

“We always knew and believed today would come,” Paquette said after Eric Windhurst, 37, of Hopkinton, was arraigned Wednesday afternoon.

Investigators would not say what led them to Windhurst 20 years after the shooting. The arrest warrant will remain sealed by the court until after a hearing next week. Still, Paquette said this was a beginning.

“We’ll get the answers we’ve been looking for,” he said softly.

Windhurst was arrested around 9:30 a.m. in Hopkinton where he worked as a builder, police said. Paquette said he got a call from state police shortly afterward. He said he didn’t know Windhurst or whether his brother knew him.

WMUR-TV reported that as a teenager Windhurst was believed to have been involved with Paquette’s stepdaughter.

“It wasn’t a random act,” said Senior Assistant Attorney General Jeff Strelzin. He would not elaborate on the evidence or motive.

Despite the time that’s passed, Paquette said his brother’s death has never been far from his mind. “We were brothers, and we were good friends,” he said.

Daniel Paquette was 36 when he was shot in the heart while doing welding work on a bulldozer outside of his barn on Nov. 9, 1985. He stood up and was shot once in the heart from a distance.

At the time, police said Paquette might have been hit by a stray bullet, but they also said there was evidence that pointed to homicide.

Police Chief Stephen Agrafiotis was a patrol officer in town when Paquette was shot. He’s been involved, along with state police, in investigating the unsolved case ever since.

“We do this for the families,” he said. “We don’t forget these crimes.”

State police Lt. Russ Conte, who’s been involved in the investigation for the past 10 years, agreed. He said it’s satisfying to finally be able to make an arrest.

Windhurst’s lawyer Mark Sisti said Wednesday he’s waiting for information about the police allegations and could not comment on the case. A woman answering the phone at a Windhurst residence in Hopkinton would not comment.

Investigators said the break came as a result of ongoing work by both Hooksett police and state police over the course of many years.

Conte said it’s not unusual in older cases for bits of evidence to come in over time until they finally point to a solution. He said in this case, the leads were generated by investigators, not by the public.

Paquette said he and his siblings, a brother and sister, are grateful. “This renews the family’s belief that the system can and will work,” he said.

Daniel Paquette’s death is not the only mysterious death in the family. Their mother, Rena Paquette, was found burned to death in a locked barn in 1964. Investigators initially ruled the death a suicide, but the state medical examiner who examined the body when it was exhumed in 1991 changed the death certificate from suicide to undetermined and said homicide was a strong possibility, according to a 1991 story by the New Hampshire Sunday News. Strelzin said he was aware of her death but was not aware of any ongoing investigation.

Windhurst was being held without bail at the Merrimack County jail. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Dec. 20.