PELHAM – A 45-year-old New York man has been charged with first-degree murder in the 1982 beating death of an Olathe, Kan., resident whose wife also is charged in the slaying.

Mark Mangelsdorf of Pelham was arrested Monday night at his home on a Kansas warrant for the death of David Harmon, 25, who was killed in his home.

Mr. Mangelsdorf was scheduled to appear before a judge yesterday at White Plains and was being held on $1 million bond.

The trial for Harmon’s wife, Melinda Raisch, 47, is slated to begin Monday. She was charged with murder in 2003.

Harmon was beaten to death on February 28, 1982, as he lay in bed in his Olathe duplex. Ms. Raisch, 24 at the time, told police her husband was attacked by two masked intruders who were seeking keys to the bank where he worked.

She said one of the attackers knocked her unconscious and that when she woke up she ran to a neighbor’s home seeking help.

Mr. Mangelsdorf was the first friend she called that morning, according to testimony at previous court hearings, and was there with Ms. Raisch when she talked to police. At the time, Mr. Mangelsdorf was a student at MidAmerica Nazarene University at Olathe, and Ms. Raisch worked there.

Mr. Mangelsdorf was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in court documents filed when Ms. Raisch was charged. Prosecutors believe he and Ms. Raisch were involved in a romantic relationship at the time of Harmon’s death, that the two conspired to kill Harmon and that they tried to mislead police about what happened.

In a videotaped statement with detectives almost 20 years after Harmon’s slaying, Ms. Raisch denied having a physical relationship with Mr. Mangelsdorf in 1982.

But she said the two did have an emotional bond that was probably inappropriate.

After the killing, Ms. Raisch left the area and moved to Ohio, where her parents lived. She graduated from Ohio State University and remarried in 1986. She and her husband, who is a dentist, have two children.

Mr. Mangelsdorf graduated from MidAmerica Nazarene, then earned an MBA from Harvard University. He currently works in marketing.

Mickey Sherman, Mr. Mangelsdorf’s Connecticut-based attorney, said his client would not fight extradition to Kansas and would be willing to testify for either side in the case.

“Mark has always denied any involvement in this case,” Mr. Sherman said.

He said Mr. Mangelsdorf would have come to Kansas to turn himself in if he had been asked to do so.

Instead, he was arrested at the front door of his home after a Pelham police detective called him and asked that Mr. Mangelsdorf meet him there.

“This is the beginning of a long road,” Mr. Sherman said. “We trust in the system and have faith that it will all work out.”