Amy Bishop has been charged with murder for the 1986 shotgun slaying of her 18-year-old brother Seth Bishop.

"The grand jury has indicted Amy Bishop for murder in the first degree," Norfolk District Attorney William R Keating said.

"Here in Massachusetts, we had evidence of a murder. We proceeded with that, as we should have".

The Boston Globe said Seth Bishop's killing was declared an accident by authorities at the time.

But questions about the investigation were raised after Amy Bishop went on a shooting rampage in February at the University of Alabama.

She shot and killed three of her colleagues, including Indian-American professor Gopi Podilla, and wounded three others.

Podilla was chairman of the biological sciences department.

Bishop had opened fire during a faculty meeting at the university after learning that she had been denied tenure.

After the Alabama shootings, prosecutors launched a review of the slaying of Seth Bishop and concluded that Amy Bishop should have been charged at the time with assault with a dangerous weapon, unlawful possession of a firearm and illegal possession of ammunition.

Keating also found that police reports, along with crime scene photos, suggested Bishop may have intentionally shot her brother.

One photo of her bedroom, where she had loaded the 12-gauge shotgun, showed a National Enquirer article about a teenager wielding a 12-gauge shotgun.

The teenager had killed parents of actor Patrick Duffy and then commandeered a getaway car at gunpoint from an auto dealership.

Keating requested a judicial inquest in April to determine whether there was sufficient evidence to warrant charges.

Testimony was heard from 19 witnesses over three days during the closed-door proceedings.

Bishop's mother, Judith, had told the police years ago that she was in the room when her 21-year-old daughter accidentally shot her son.

Amy Bishop had told the police she loaded her father's shotgun and fired a shot in her bedroom on December 6, 1986.

Bishop then went to the kitchen and said she accidentally shot her brother in the chest while trying to figure how to unload the shotgun.

According to police reports, Bishop then fled her home, tried to commandeer a car at gunpoint from an auto dealership, and trained the gun on police.

Bishop was released within hours and did not face charges.