A chilling mystery that haunted a California community for more than three decades may finally be getting answers.
Back in November 1991, 35-year-old Cindy Wanner vanished from her home in Granite Bay under deeply disturbing circumstances. When authorities arrived, they found her coat, shoes, and car still at the house — and her 11-month-old baby left behind, crying alone in a high chair.
The disappearance triggered a massive search and stunned the community.
Three weeks later, the case took an even darker turn. Wanner’s body was discovered in a remote area near Foresthill, about 40 miles away. Investigators determined she had been strangled.
Then, for years, nothing.
The case went cold — until now.
Authorities say they’ve arrested a suspect nearly 35 years later: 64-year-old James Lawhead Jr.. At the time of the murder, he was 30 years old and had just been released from prison after serving more than a decade for child sex crimes.
According to the Placer County Sheriff’s Office, detectives recently zeroed in on Lawhead as a potential suspect — but quickly realized he had seemingly disappeared. There had been no official record of him since 2005.
Investigators believe he had been living under a new identity.
Using facial recognition technology, authorities say they were able to track him down in Bullhead City, where he was allegedly going by the name Vincent Reynolds.
He was arrested on April 24 and is now awaiting extradition back to California.
Prosecutors say Lawhead is facing one count of murder, along with special circumstances including murder during the commission of rape and kidnapping. He’s also been charged separately with kidnapping.
The case didn’t stop there.
Lawhead’s sister, Terry Lawhead Steele, was also arrested in South Carolina. Investigators say she may have been in contact with him and allowed him to stay in a home she owned — despite previously telling police she hadn’t spoken to him in more than 20 years.
For officials, the arrest marks a major breakthrough in one of the area’s most disturbing unsolved cases.
Sheriff Wayne Woo called it one of the most notorious cases in Placer County history, saying authorities never stopped working toward justice for Wanner and her family.