A judge set bail at $500,000 on Aug. 23 for a man suspected of killing a sailor 32 years ago in a Point Loma home.

Brian Scott Koehl, now 51, was extradited from Tennessee after a judge issued a no-bail bench warrant for his arrest following a long investigation into the slaying of Larry Joe Breen, 32.

Deputy District Attorney Lisa Fox told San Diego Superior Court Judge Laura Halgren that DNA solved the case and that Koehl had admitted to being in the Point Loma house where Breen had rented.

“It was a very violent murder,” said Fox, adding that bloodstains were found on the wall.

Breen was found without clothing in the backyard on May 25, 1990, of the home at the corner of Nimitz Boulevard and Locust Street. He was stabbed several times in the neck.

Breen was a petty officer and cook and was stationed aboard the USS Fox CG-33 at the time. Koehl was 19 years old and in the Navy also at the time. He has pleaded not guilty.

“He is happily married to his wife. They have three children,” said Koehl’s attorney Alicia Freeze to the judge. “He has no record. There is no danger. He is a hard worker.”

“Mr. Koehl is held in very high regard,” said Freeze, adding that she presented a packet of 26 letters to the judge in support of her client by his friends and neighbors in Tennessee.

“He wants to do the right thing,” said Freeze. “He follows the rules.”

Freeze suggested bail be set at $500,000, and Halgren set that was a reasonable amount. Because the attorney suggested that amount, it is possible that Koehl may have resources or property that would allow him to come up with that figure.

The prosecutor asked that Koehl’s passport be surrendered. The judge asked about that, and Koehl told her his wife had the passport and she would surrender it.

A Nov. 17 preliminary hearing was set.