SANDPOINT - Prosecutors in California are weighing whether to seek the death penalty against a Sandpoint man implicated in the slaying of a 6-year-old boy.

Kenneth Raston Rasmuson was arrested on March 27 in Sandpoint, where he has been living for the last five years. Rasmuson was deemed a sexually violent predator when he took up residence on South Third Avenue due to convictions for molesting boys in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara counties.

Rasmuson, 53, is now charged with murdering Jeffrey Vargo, who disappeared near a fireworks stand in Anaheim, Calif., in 1981. The child was found strangled at a construction site in nearby Pomona the day after he disappeared.

Prosecutors charged Rasmuson with murder and a special allegation that he committed the crime during a lewd or lascivious act on a child, which makes him eligible for the death penalty.

Prosecutors haven't said whether they'll seek death for Rasmuson, who otherwise could face life in prison without parole if convicted, spokesman Greg Risling told the Times.

Rasmuson was connected to the Vargo slaying through DNA, according to published news accounts. Sandpoint Police took part in the investigation, but declined to say how a sample of Rasmuson's DNA was collected.

Rasmuson was being held at the Bonner County Jail on the Los Angeles County arrest warrant. He was booked into Los Angeles County Men's Central Jail on Sunday, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's website.

Rasmuson is being held without bail and is scheduled to make an appearance in Pomona Superior Court on April 28.