Kevin Shanahan, 50, a suspect in the 1975 murder of Alice Lewis, was ordered Thursday to the Inglewood Juvenile Courthouse, where it will be decided if he should be tried as an adult.

Shanahan and co-defendant Dennis Vasquez were minors when 80-year-old Lewis was raped and murdered in her Venice home. LAPD cold case detectives linked the two to the murder through DNA collected at the scene some 35 years ago.

"Of course I was shocked and devastated to hear the news," Shanahan's brother told Patch, asking that his name and place of residence be excluded.

He traveled to L.A. to see his brother stand trial for murder, he said. Shanahan has had a history of mental illness, said his brother, and he's been diagnosed with several disorders and has been on medication his whole life.

"My brother may be mentally ill, but he's not a rapist or a murderer," Shanahan's brother said.

Because Shanahan is still being considered a minor at present, privacy laws prohibit court officials from giving out specific case information, deputy district attorney Darci Lanphere told Patch. 

Inglewood court attorney Ralph Ayala will represent Shanahan in the juvenile proceedings scheduled for Feb. 4. If it's decided that Shanahan should stand trial as an adult, attorney Gabriel Zaragoza will represent him at the L.A. Airport Courthouse.

"I can tell you that Vasquez went through the same process and he was sent back to adult court," Zaragoza said.

On the morning of Dec. 29, 2010, Shanahan agreed to be extradited to Los Angeles from a federal prison in Olmsted County, Minnesota, said Sgt. Tom Clayman of the Olmsted County Sheriff's Office. 

Vasquez, 52, was arrested in his Los Angeles home in September 2009 and has pleaded not guilty. A trial has been set for March 1 to give his attorney, Frederick Lacey, additional time to review the case.

According to the LAPD, Vasquez and Shanahan lived near each other, and near the home of the victim in 1975. The police have established that the two boys were friends at the time.