Man is charged in 1994 slaying of his mother in her Corona del Mar living room

A 70-year-old Dana Point man was arrested Thursday on suspicion of beating and killing his mother while she was sitting on a couch in her Corona del Mar home on March 3, 1994.

John Henry Van Uden III is facing a murder charge with a possible sentencing enhancement on allegations of murder for financial gain in the death of Frances Marjorie Van Uden, 76, according to Orange County Superior Court records.

If convicted, he could face life in prison without parole.

He is being held without bail in Orange County Jail and is expected to be arraigned Monday, court records show.

Newport Beach Police Chief Jon Lewis and Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas attributed the arrest in the cold case to “old school” detective work and dogged investigators who refused to give up.

“Last week would have marked Marjorie’s 100th birthday,” Lewis said during a news conference Thursday. “But we here at the Newport Beach Police Department, along with you, have never forgotten what happened in March 1994. We remained committed in our resolve to finding answers about what happened that day.”

Newport Beach detectives began working the case on March 5, 1994, when neighbors called police to report they hadn’t seen Marjorie Van Uden for two days and had grown concerned.

Newspapers had begun to pile up on her driveway and her milk delivery was spoiling on the front patio of her home on Keel Drive.

An officer and a neighbor walked around the side of the house to the backyard, where they found an unlocked door. When the officer opened the door to look inside, the bedrooms had been ransacked. Jewelry, cash and credit cards were stolen, police wrote in an affidavit filed in Superior Court. The credit cards were never used.

Marjorie Van Uden, who was wearing a green bathrobe and sandals at the time, was slumped over on a sofa with a large wound on the back of her head. Blood was splattered in the living room. An empty poppy seed muffin wrapper sat on a small plate on the living room table, according to the document.

Authorities said she had been hit on the back of the head with an unknown blunt object two days before she was found.

Her neighbor told police that on the night of her death, he saw a red four-door sedan, possibly a Buick, parked in front of her house. He had seen John Van Uden III driving the vehicle days before, police wrote.

Van Uden III was identified as a possible suspect within days of the homicide, the affidavit said. But with little evidence, the case grew cold.

“For 23 years after murdering his mother, Van Uden walked free and enjoyed living on a boat in Newport Beach,” Rackauckas said. “Law enforcement didn’t forget this case. He might have thought he got away with it, but he did not.”

Over two decades, detectives continued to conduct interviews, follow leads and collect evidence in the case. The investigation was reinvigorated when Newport Beach hired two part-time cold-case homicide investigators last year.

Detectives built “a foundation of evidence” against Van Uden III, according to a statement from the Police Department.

He told police that on the night of his mother’s death, he was staying with his girlfriend at her apartment in Costa Mesa. However, his girlfriend told investigators that he had left at some point during the night, according to the affidavit. She said she didn’t know how long he was gone before he returned.

Investigators wrote that Van Uden III had rented a red Buick Regal around the time of his mother’s death but tried to distance himself from the vehicle after police questioned him about it.

Van Uden III paid a parking ticket he received while the car was parked in Corona del Mar with a money order that had the name “Stan King” on it and a nonexistent address in Yorba Linda. Investigators matched him with the DNA from the envelope seal, according to the affidavit.

Investigators indicated in court papers that Van Uden III was having financial problems at the time of his mother’s death and appeared to be getting money from her to live on. However, their relationship had become strained in the year before her death, the affidavit said.

Marjorie Van Uden had removed Van Uden III as the executor of her will and put him in third position behind his brother and sister, according to the affidavit.

“The victim had also complained to other family members that she was not going to loan or give John Van Uden any more money and that she had to cut him off,” police wrote. “This angered John Van Uden and it was reported to the family members that this angered him.”

hannah.fry@latimes.com

Twitter: @HannahFryTCN