Man Charged in ’72 Slaying of Relative : Crime: Renewed probe leads to arrest. He’s accused of strangling mother-in-law, who was found dead in her Toluca Lake home.

A retired aerospace worker was charged Tuesday with murdering his mother-in-law, nearly 23 years after the woman was found strangled in her Toluca Lake home.

Harland Omer Gallion, 65, was arrested on a warrant at the Los Angeles Police Department’s North Hollywood station and charged with the murder of Catherine Marion Halgren. He is being held on $1 million bail, Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert L. Cohen said.

The charge resulted from a renewed investigation into Halgren’s slaying in September, 1972, following disclosure of long-held “family secrets,” according to a source close to the case.

Gallion and his mother-in-law apparently did not get along, Cohen said.

Because the case involves witnesses whose memories may have dimmed over the years, police and prosecutors were closemouthed about details Tuesday.

The body of the 62-year-old widow was found in her house in the 4300 block of Cahuenga Boulevard by her daughter, Ramona, Cohen said. Ramona Gallion later divorced Gallion and died several years ago, Cohen said.

Detective Oscar Carballo said he received a break in the investigation about 2 1/2 years ago when he was tipped to information that the original police investigators, now both dead, may not have pursued.

“It kind of sounded like they dropped the ball back then, but I don’t know if they did,” Carballo said. He refused to elaborate on the new evidence, but said it prompted him to re-investigate the entire case and led to the murder charge.

Los Angeles police had booked Gallion last month on suspicion of murder, but were forced to release him a few days later after prosecutors refused to file charges, saying the evidence was insufficient. After gathering more evidence, detectives Tuesday presented the case to prosecutors again and the murder charge was filed.

Police were about to launch a search for Gallion, who had moved from his Pasadena apartment after his release from jail earlier this month. But Gallion saved officers the trouble when he called the station and requested copies of old police reports, Cohen said.

Police invited him to come to the North Hollywood station to pick up the reports and he was arrested when he showed up Tuesday morning.

Carballo said the motive for the slaying remains unclear.

Gallion, who has denied being the killer, is scheduled to be arraigned today.