NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A suspect in the 1975 slaying of a 9-year-old Girl Scout, who disappeared while delivering Girl Scout Cookies in Green Hills, has been indicted by a grand jury, prosecutors announced Friday.

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Nashville District Attorney Torry Johnson said Jerome Sydney Barrett was indicted by a grand jury Tuesday on charges of first-degree murder and felony murder in the case of Marcia Trimble.

Barrett also faces a charge of larceny in connection with items taken from Trimble.

The charges were made public Friday after Barrett, who is in jail on charges in another 1975 slaying, was informed of the indictment.

"It's a satisfying feeling that gives me closure on a case that has haunted me," said Lt. Tommy Jacobs, a former lead detective in the case.

Trimble disappeared from her upscale neighborhood Feb. 25, 1975. Her body was found 33 days later sticking out from a plastic wading pool in a neighbor's garage, and authorities later said she had been strangled.

The case was Nashville's most notorious unsolved murder for 33 years.

"This is an important day for Nashville and the Trimble family. For the past 33 years, more than two generations of police officers have worked tirelessly and invested thousands of hours of investigations into bringing solutions to this terrible, terrible crime," said Metro police Chief Ronal Serpas.

Barrett, 61, was living in Memphis when he was arrested late last year, according to court records.

Barrett is awaiting trial on another murder charge in the 1975 killing of Vanderbilt University student Sarah Des Prez.

Barrett's case is not eligible for the death penalty because the death penalty statute on the books at the time was later declared unconstitutional, said Deputy District Attorney General Tom Thurman.

Thurman said "scientific evidence" linked Barrett to the murder, but declined to state whether that evidence was a semen sample taken from Trimble's body.

Thurman said the felony murder charge, which indicates Trimble was killed during the commission of another crime, came because investigators believe "something of value" was taken from the girl.

Channel 4 first reported in December 2007 that there was a DNA match between Barrett and evidence gathered at the scene of Trimble's death.

Jacobs said that detectives found semen on the little girl's body, but it took time for technology to catch up with evidence.

"We had samples back then, but we found more samples when the technology got better. We went back over her body and found more samples as late as 1991 and 1992," said Jacobs.

The former detective also said that Trimble had roughly $11 from cookie sales taken from her when the incident occurred.

Former district attorney Jim Todd said the prosecutors want Barrett convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life. However, if attorneys can't prove he planned to kill her, the larceny charge in combination with murder would still result in a maximum sentence.

"The jury will now have two shots of convicting him of first-degree murder," said Todd.

Marcia Trimble's mother, Virginia Trimble, responded to Friday's announcement in a written statement.

Video: Virginia Trimble Hopes For Justice In Daughter's Slaying

"I praise God for the never-yielding investigation work of the Metro Police Department as they, joined with the District Attorney's Office, may finally bring justice for Marcia and solve her murder that has haunted us all for 33 years," she wrote.

"Virginia is one of the most beautiful people I’ve ever known. She has this spirit of God inside of her, and it just directs everything that she does. I mean, even in her grief. Even in her pain," said Verna Wyatt.

Trimble did want to talk about Barrett because she said the case is about Marcia.

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