Truck Driver Convicted in 1976 NJ Murder

A truck driver has been convicted of the brutal murder of a New Jersey woman more than three decades ago.

A judge in Union County convicted 52-year-old Carlton Franklin Thursday of murdering neighbor Lena Triano in her Westfield home in 1976.

According to prosecutors, the 57-year-old Triano was found tied, raped, beaten and strangled in her home.

Since Franklin was 15 at the time he was tried in juvenile court.

Franklin spent two decades in prison for a separate kidnapping and robbery and was released in 1999. He had been working as an oil truck driver.

He was arrested last spring after the Union County prosecutor's office's cold case unit uncovered evidence that could be tested with modern techniques.

Franklin faces up to 20 years in prison.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press