FARMINGTON – Jurors today convicted Thomas H. Mitchell Jr. of murder in the stabbing death of Judith L. Flagg in her rural Fayette home one winter day 26 years ago.

Mitchell, 52, formerly of South Portland, had been tried over the last seven days in Franklin County Superior Court, and jurors took about 90 minutes to return a guilty verdict.

The case showed the power of DNA profiling to solve old cases.

Mitchell was charged in the Flagg murder in September 2006 after DNA testing was conducted on clothing and biological materials preserved from the crime scene. The testing revealed Mitchell’s DNA.

More than 100 people packed the upstairs courtroom to hear the closing arguments, and many stayed to hear the verdict.