CAMDEN – A Salem City man has been convicted of killing a city woman 13 years ago.

Timothy Simon, 54, was accused of strangling 31-year-old Lawanda “Wannie” Strickland in the victim’s home on the 900 block of Jackson Street.

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A Superior Court jury found him guilty of murder on Feb. 14 after a 10-week trial, according to the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office.

Suspect reported murder in 2013

Simon called police to report the victim’s death in July 2013, but an investigation did not lead to his arrest until five years later.

Simon, then living in Houston, was charged after cold-case investigators found his DNA on fingernail clippings from Strickland.

Simon was extradited in 2016 to New Jersey, where a judge ordered him held on $1 million cash bail. The case remained in “active litigation” until Simon was found guilty, said Camden County Assistant Prosecutor Cynthia Russomanno.

At a court hearing in 2016, Strickland’s family members described her as a loving mother who could not escape domestic violence.

Victim recalled as loving mother

Strickland, a certified nursing assistant, "worked hard to provide a good, stable life for her two young daughters," her niece, C. Nikki Thompson of Winslow, said at the time.

Witnesses described Simon as “controlling."

Phone records showed he called Strickland 11 times on the afternoon and evening of her death, according to a probable cause statement.

Simon is scheduled to be sentenced on April 6.

Jim Walsh is a senior reporter with the Courier-Post, Burlington County Times and The Daily Journal.

This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Jury reaches verdict in Lawanda Strickland murder case in Camden