Double-slay suspect to face charges in Mass.

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — A former Brewster man suspected in the 1995 slayings of his wife and teenage daughter waived extradition Wednesday morning in an Ohio courtroom and will be turned over to Massachusetts authorities.

Police say Robert Honsch, 70, killed Elizabeth Honsch, 17, and Marcia Honsch, 53, when they lived in Brewster. Authorities arrested him July 22 in Dalton, Ohio, where he had started a new life as Robert Tyree with a new wife and family.

Elizabeth Honsch's still-warm body was found Sept. 28, 1995, behind a strip mall in New Britain, Connecticut. She had been shot in the head. Eight days later, hikers found Marcia's body about 40 miles away near the entrance to Tolland State Forest in Massachusetts.

As Wednesday's hearing was about to start in the Wayne County Municipal Court, Honsch told Judge Timothy R. VanSickle he wanted waive the hearing and not fight extradition, court records show.

VanSickle asked Honsch if he understood his rights and what he was doing. Honsch said he did and that he had consulted with his legal aid attorney, Michael S. Rudy. VanSickle then ordered him back to the Wayne County jail until Massachusetts State Police come to get him. Honsch signed his extradition waiver as "Robert Tyree."

For years, authorities believed the two dead women were related. In 2011, DNA testing confirmed they were mother and daughter. Evidence also linked them to the Albany area, so New York State Police joined the investigation.

Police weren't able to positively identify them until June, after a relative contacted New York troopers to file missing-persons reports. That's when police connected them to the 1995 cold cases.

Police found Robert Honsch in Ohio, living under a new name but using his own birth date and Social Security number. He also faces charges in Connecticut in his daughter's death.

Marcia Honsch's family searched for her and her daughter for nearly 20 years but said they were told they couldn't file missing-persons reports because it looked like they left the area voluntarily. Before his wife and daughter disappeared, Robert Honsch told people they were moving to Australia.

Honsch is being represented by a legal aid lawyer because he said he's broke.