AUGUSTA — Suffering an unspecified medical issue, a homeless Seattle man accused of killing a city woman 36 years ago has had his return to a Maine courtroom delayed, authorities said.

Gary Sanford Raub was set to travel to Maine from Washington state on Thursday, but his extradition was delayed because the 64-year-old had suffered the medical problem, said Steve McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.

Raub was released from the custody of King County jail in Seattle on Wednesday. He had been held there in lieu of $1.5 million bail since his arrest Oct. 15 on the warrant from Maine issued in connection with the 1976 murder.

“The US Marshal Service began the process of transporting (Raub) back to Maine. This medical issue came up so his return to Maine is being delayed,” McCausland said. “It will be some time after the first of the year.”

Raub has been held at the King County jail since his arrest in October. When he is brought back to Maine he is expected to be arraigned in Kennebec County Superior Court on the charge of criminal homicide in the first degree, the murder statute that was in effect in 1976. The charge says Raub knowingly and intentionally killed 70-year-old Blanche M. Kimball inside her State Street home and “inflicted great physical suffering” on her.

While the case has been specially assigned to Justice John Nivison, any judge could oversee the arraignment proceeding at which Raub is expected to plead not guilty.

Raub, known as Gary Robert Wilson when he was in Maine in the 1970s, is accused of stabbing to death Kimball, a retired nurse and dental technician, in her State Street home. He had been a boarder in her home for a couple of weeks before her death, authorities said.

Kimball was stabbed several times, according to the medical examiner’s report. Her body was discovered June 12, 1976, after neighbors reported to police that she had not been seen for days.

Raub was charged in the Oct. 17, 2011, stabbing of a Seattle man, and police got a sample of Raub’s DNA, telling him he was taking part in a chewing gum survey, then taking the gum he had chewed. The result matched DNA found on a bloody knife with a bent blade found at the Kimball murder scene as well as a blood drop on the knife drawer in Kimball’s kitchen, according to a court affidavit by Maine State Police Detective Abbe Chabot.

Craig Crosby — 621-5642
ccrosby@centralmaine.com