FARMINGTON – A man accused of torturing and killing a 7-year-old boy in Indiana 28 years ago will be held without bail at the Franklin County Detention Center until authorities from that state come to return him there.

David Bruce Bowen, 44, of 218 Park St. in Portland appeared in Farmington District Court on Wednesday and waived extradition to Indiana, where an arrest warrant charging him in the 1979 slaying of Kenneth “Butch” Conrick was issued Monday.

Bowen was arrested Tuesday in Kingfield, where he was working as a painter for a Portland contractor.

He appeared before District Court Judge Paul Cote on a charge of being a fugitive from justice.

A small man clad in paint-spattered jeans, Bowen quietly responded to the judge’s questions as to whether he understood his right to contest extradition. Bowen responded that he did and voluntarily waived extradition.

Police say Conrick was snatched while walking home from school. His body was found two weeks later, bound to a tree, nude except for socks, and with some of his body parts removed. The cause of death was ruled to be asphyxia and choking. A cord was around his neck.

At the time Conrick was killed, Bowen was a 16-year-old paperboy who lived near Conrick, police said.

In 1992, police tracked down Bowen’s sister, who provided them with DNA samples. Investigators reopened the case three years ago, found the sister and took a DNA sample from her then that showed enough similarities to genetic material found on the boy and his clothing at the scene to link Bowen to the crime.

For the past six months, task force members worked closely with investigators from Indiana to keep tabs on Bowen until a criminal case could be filed in that state, police said.

On Monday, an arrest warrant was issued in Lake County, charging Bowen with the murder of Kenny Conrick.

Officers from the task force arrested Bowen around 11:30 a.m Tuesday at a bed and breakfast where he was staying while working on a painting job in Kingfield. The officers stopped at the work site to find that Bowen had not come to work Tuesday but had stayed at the bed and breakfast. He opened the door to the officers and was placed under arrest without incident, according to court documents.

On Tuesday night, Chief Deputy John Clark of the U.S. Marshals service in Maine said, Bowen, single and childless, has lived in Maine for 25 years.