LOVINGSTON, Va. (AP) – Nelson County authorities are investigating whether a former area resident who killed himself more than a year ago committed a 1984 rape that led to another man’s wrongful conviction, a newspaper reported Wednesday.

The case drew national attention after DNA tests in 1994 exonerated Edward Honaker, who spent more than a decade in prison before being pardoned by then-Gov. George Allen.

Investigators are now looking at Michael Andrew Nicholaou as a suspect in the June 23, 1984, rape along the Blue Ridge Parkway, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported. Nicholaou fatally shot himself on New Year’s Eve 2005 after killing his wife and stepdaughter in Tampa, Fla.

Nicholaou came to the attention of Nelson authorities after Florida private detective Lynn-Marie Carty was contacted last year by a client who had seen a story about Honaker on Court TV. The client told Carty that Honaker bore an incredible resemblance to Nicholaou.

“When I saw their pictures … it told me we had to take a look at this,” said Mac Bridgwater, an investigator with the Nelson Sheriff’s Department.

Nicholaou also is a possible suspect in homicides during the 1980s in New Hampshire and Vermont, and a stabbing attack in New Hampshire in which the victim survived.

Carty had been tracking Nicholaou on behalf of his ex-wife’s relatives, who believe he caused her disappearance in 1988 in Massachusetts.

Carty firmly believes Nicholaou is the parkway rapist, citing his “absolutely astounding resemblance” to Honaker.

Nelson County Commonwealth’s Attorney Phil Payne was more cautious.

“We are looking at him as a possible suspect,” he said. “But we need to accumulate enough evidence. We’ve had other possible suspects in the past fade as they are investigated.”

Honaker, who now lives in Roanoke, doubts the rapist will ever being identified.

“I think it’s a long shot, but I guess you never know,” he said.

The evidence against Nicholaou is all circumstantial. The key piece is his resemblance to Honaker, whose physical appearance was critical in his conviction. The rape victim, then 19, and her fiance picked Honaker out of 24 spectators in a courtroom at a hearing and quickly from a photographic lineup. Honaker’s appearance also was similar to a police sketch.

Other details also could tie Nicholaou to the rape. The victim said the rapist spoke of being a Vietnam veteran. Nicholaou was an Army chief warrant officer and flew helicopters in Vietnam. The rapist, like Nicholaou, had a hairy chest and hands, a sizable belly and a double chin, and was estimated to be in his mid-30s – about Nicholaou’s age at the time.

Carty said her investigation found that Nicholaou, who owned a Charlottesville pornography shop, at one time lived in the Afton Mountain area, near where the rape occurred.

City police twice raided Nicholaou’s store, The Pleasure Chest. He was convicted of selling obscene material in February 1984. But he reopened the store and was tried again in May 1984, the month before the rape, on similar charges and found not guilty.

Nicholaou, then 32, told reporters then that “evidently the police don’t have enough serious robberies, murders and rapes to occupy their time.”