A New York man who spent most of the past 20 years in prison has been charged for the murder of an 82-year-old former Hollywood High School English teacher, Harry Major, who was found dead on Feb. 12 in his apartment in Hollywood.

Harry Major

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office filed murder charges against the suspect on Thursday, Feb. 20. He was identified as Scott Kratlian, 44, who also goes by the name Scott Porter.

Kratlian and Major were allegedly pen pals while the suspect was incarcerated for manslaughter in New York. Kratlian pleaded not guilty to one count of murder on Monday and is being held in excess of $1 million bail, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

The suspect was released on parole on Nov. 26 after being incarcerated since 1993 in a New York state prison. It was unclear how long the suspect and Major had been pen pals. Kratlian is believed to have traveled to Los Angeles within the last few weeks.

Det. Steven Katz, with the Los Angeles Police Department’s West Bureau Homicide Unit, said it is unknown whether Kratlian was staying at Major’s apartment in the 1400 block of N. Vista St., where he allegedly murdered the victim on Feb. 10. Police conducted a welfare check on Major two days later at the request of friends who could not contact him. The victim was found unconscious and later pronounced dead. Police originally did not know if it was a homicide, but the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office determined Major died of asphyxiation.

Katz would not divulge how investigators determined Kratlian was a suspect, but said he was the last person seen with the victim when he was still alive. The suspect was located on Feb. 18 at an undisclosed hospital in Pasadena by members of the FBI/LAPD Fugitive Task Force. No further details about how he was located, or any other aspects of the case, were available.

Katz added that the exact motive for the murder has also not been determined, but robbery is one of the possibilities. The victim’s credit cards were missing, according to police. Katz added that it was a quick resolution to the case.

“That’s the most hopeful ending,” Katz said. “We were very pleased to locate and find him.”

Major taught at Hollywood High School from 1956 to 1984, and was reportedly a favorite teacher of the late actor John Ritter. He allegedly retired after demographics changed at the school in the early 1980s.

Anyone with further information about the murder is asked to contact Det. Steven Katz, with the LAPD’s West Bureau Homicide Unit, at (213)382-9470.