Tasmanian police have charged a man with a cold case murder dating back to 1992.
A 59-year-old man from Lake Leake, 160km northeast of Hobart, will appear in court on Thursday night charged with the murder of Ronald Frederick Jarvis.
Police will allege Mr Jarvis, a fisherman who was 37 at the time, was shot around the time he was last seen, on July 31, 1992.
The Hobart man was reported missing in August that year and his body was found in bushland at Nugent, 50km east of the capital, in February 1993.
The arrest was made by former officers of the defunct cold case unit, which was closed in December because of budget cuts.
The case was the oldest the unit had been investigating and officers continued working on it after the unit was disbanded.
Inspector Glenn Lathey said the man had been arrested near Hobart.
'His reaction was perhaps one of surprise,' he told reporters.
The inspector said there was no one new piece of evidence which had led to the breakthrough, and a reward on offer would not be paid at this stage.
'The arrest was as a result of a combination of investigative strategies implemented by the cold case unit over a period of almost two years, so it was a lengthy, hard slog investigation,' Inspector Lathey said.
'It's just a combination of new investigations combined with the previous investigations that were conducted that has led us to the position we're in today.'
He said it was unfortunate the cold case unit had been closed down.
'As an investigator I would agree (it should stay open) but the current budget climate dictates otherwise and the determination has been made ... purely as a result of government budget cuts,' he said.
