Honolulu police last night arrested a man wanted for the 1996 murder of a visiting university linguistics professor.

An Oahu grand jury returned an indictment earlier yesterday charging Jason Lee Mc Cor mick, 36, with the murder of University of Pittsburgh professor Robert T. Henderson. A CrimeStoppers alert was issued for McCormick and he was arrested in the evening and bail was set at $500,000.

University of Hawaii officials said Henderson, 51, was here in 1996 to give lectures and take part in three of four weeklong National Foreign Language Resource Center summer workshops at UH. They said he was planning to travel to Asia afterward.

Henderson was last seen July 12, 1996, leaving the Manoa campus. Police think he traveled by bus. When he failed to appear for a presentation July 15, UH officials reported him missing.

Police found Henderson’s naked, decomposing body two days later in the Ilikai condominium where he had been staying. A friend had loaned him the apartment.

The Honolulu Medical Examiner did not release the cause of death, but classified it as a homicide.

Police said there was no sign of a struggle in the apartment. They also said there was “personal handwriting” on the body.

Vickie Kapp, deputy prosecutor, said Mc Cor mick confessed to the murder years later.

A state judge issued a $500,000 warrant for Mc Cor mick’s arrest yesterday. The reason for the interval was unclear.

Police said McCormick frequented Kapa hulu, Kaimuki and Waikiki.

He has family on the mainland but no local address and is unemployed, Kapp said.

Honolulu police and the state Department of the Attorney General investigated the case.

Henderson’s brother was in Hono lulu for yesterday’s grand jury proceeding. He released a written statement on behalf of his family thanking “all who have suffered with us throughout this ordeal and hope they will continue to hold Robert in the high esteem he so richly deserves.”

The statement also said although it has been almost 14 years since the killing, family members “sincerely hope the remainder of this ordeal moves swiftly until (the) murderer is behind bars.”