He was indicted in absentia for the murder in December 1976.

According to the CPD, periodically detectives reopen old files and look for new leads. When they did so with Martin's file, they found him using the same alias, Bruce Benjamin, while living in Canada.

"Martin was very good," Ferreira said. "He used 60 different aliases, knows the system well and was able to get out of the country fast."

Martin had also spent five years in a Canadian jail on drug-related charges.

When police tracked Martin down, they found he had fathered a child with a common-law wife and was living on public assistance in Montreal. Though Martin was originally not home, Canadian police monitored his residence and picked him up when he returned.

Massachusetts authorities plan to return Martin to the Bay State to face murder charges, although it's not clear when that will happen, Anson Kaye, a spokesperson for the Middlesex County district attorney's office told the Associated Press.

Paulsen's family has stayed involved in the case over the years. Last year, they attended a parole hearing to make sure Brown was not released.