SOUTH PORTLAND – An Attleboro, Mass., man waived extradition Tuesday and agreed to return to Maine to face murder and rape charges in the 1994 slaying of a 22-year-old South Portland woman.

Foster D. Bates, 34, appeared in Attleboro District Court after his arrest on a fugitive from justice charge. Two state troopers planned to retrieve Bates from Massachusetts on Wednesday.

Maine investigators said new DNA evidence provided by Maine State Police linked Bates to the killing of Tammy Dickson. The two were residents of the Cortland Court apartment complex.

On Feb. 20, 1994, Dickson was found bound and gagged on her living room floor with her 18-month-old son in a crib nearby. A neighbor who hadn’t seen her for several days called Dickson’s former boyfriend, who had a key to the apartment.

Tammy Dickson’s son, who apparently had gone without food and water for three days, was taken to Maine Medical Center, where he was treated for dehydration and diaper rash. He is now living with his father, Anthony Dickson, whose amicable divorce became final a few days before the killing.

Authorities emphasized the role of DNA in cracking the case.

“We’ve had a string of successes with older cases in recent years,” said Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety. “This is just the latest of several older cases that state police have worked on through the last year that have been brought either to an arrest or to closure.”

After an old DNA sample from Bates proved inconclusive, detectives obtained a search warrant about a year and a half ago requiring that he provide a new blood sample.

“The DNA sample that we have directly links Mr. Bates to the crime scene and to this crime,” said Lt. Brian McDonough of the state police. “I feel thrilled that a sexual predator and murderer has finally been removed from the scene.”

Bates, who was a student at Southern Maine Technical College at the time Dickson was killed, was arrested without incident Monday evening as he left his workplace in Woonsocket, R.I.

He was named in a secret indictment handed up last week by the Cumberland County grand jury.