James Lawhead Jr. perhaps thought he was in the clear.<\/p>\n
But technology \u2013 used by the Scottsdale Police Department \u2013 helped crack a \u201ccold case\u201d murder that took place 35 years ago and 800 miles from Scottsdale.<\/p>\n
In 1991, Lawhead became a primary suspect in a murder case outside Sacramento.<\/p>\n
According to the Placer County Sheriff\u2019s Department, \u201cCindy Wanner was 35 years old when she vanished from a Granite Bay home on Nov. 25, 1991.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHer 11-month-old baby was left crying in a highchair, while her shoes, coat, and car were all left behind. Her disappearance sparked a massive investigation and shook the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
The mother was found dead in a deserted area 40 miles from where she was kidnapped.<\/p>\n
Lawhead, who was 30 at the time of the murder, had been released from prison earlier that year after serving 11 years for sex crimes involving a young child.<\/p>\n
Detectives identified Lawhead as the suspect \u2013 beginning a 35-year manhunt.<\/p>\n
According to the Placer County Sheriff\u2019s Department, \u201cHe appeared to have vanished, with no documented record of him since 2005.\u201d<\/p>\n
Detectives working the \u201ccold case\u201d figured Lawhead had assumed a new identity as \u201cVincent Reynolds.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The California cops picked up the phone \u2013 and dialed the Scottsdale Police Department.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn April 21, one of our senior crime analysts was contacted by the Placer County case detective seeking information on James Lawhead Jr.,\u201d Aaron Bolin of the SPD said.<\/p>\n
Once the analyst had the information to begin a search and comparison, SPD submitted a request for Motor Vehicle Department\/ADOT photos of Vincent Reynolds of Bullhead City in northwest Arizona.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn April 23, our analyst received the requested MVD information and then used facial recognition software to corroborate the investigative lead that Vincent Reynolds was likely James Lawhead Jr.,\u201d Bolin said.<\/p>\n
\u201cFurther, our analyst used LPR (license plate reader) technology with Flock cameras to obtain a picture of one of Lawhead\u2019s\/Reynolds\u2019 registered vehicles.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe LPR hit was up from the Bullhead City area.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The SPD analyst shared the information with the lead Placer County detective, who then coordinated with the Bullhead City Police Department to arrest Lawhead, Bolin said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOther than our senior crime analyst assisting, there are no direct ties to Scottsdale,\u201d Bolin added.<\/p>\n
Armed with the information, detectives found Lawhead\/Reynolds in Bullhead City on April 24.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith assistance from the Bullhead City Police Department, Lawhead was taken into custody and booked into jail in Arizona,\u201d according to the Placer County Sheriff\u2019s Department. \u201cHe will be extradited to Placer County to face charges.\u201d<\/p>\n
How did the suspect elude law enforcement for so long?<\/p>\n
On April 25, Lawhead\u2019s 71-year-old sister, Terry Lawhead Steele, was arrested in South Carolina on an accessory charge.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough Steele had spoken with law enforcement several times over the years, including with our detectives just weeks ago, and claimed she had not heard from her brother in more than 20 years, investigators discovered James Lawhead had been living in a home she owned,\u201d according to the sheriff\u2019s department.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvidence also showed the two had remained in communication.\u201d<\/p>\n
Placer County Sheriff Wayne Woo thanked the Scottsdale Police Department for its assistance in \u201cone of the most notorious and heinous cold cases we have here in Placer County.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve never given up pursuing justice for Cindy and her family, we hope this is a small step in the healing process.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"James Lawhead Jr. perhaps thought he was in the clear. But technology \u2013 used by the Scottsdale Police…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":776872,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5131],"tags":[5229,5643,1587,318246,57784,318245,318244,1589,49600,178359,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,318247],"class_list":["post-776871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-phoenix","tag-america","tag-arizona","tag-az","tag-cindy-wanner","tag-facial-recognition","tag-james-lawhead","tag-james-lawhead-jr","tag-phoenix","tag-placer-county","tag-scottsdale-police-department","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-wayne-woo"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116526727165199635","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=776871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/776872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=776871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=776871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=776871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}