Arrest Made In 1991 CA Cold Case Of Mother Found Strangled In Remote Area: Police

PLACER COUNTY, CA — After more than three decades, the mystery of who killed and kidnapped 35-year-old mother Cindy Wanner from a Placer County home appears to be solved, authorities announced Monday.

James Lawhead Jr., 64, was arrested Friday in Bullhead City, Arizona, in connection with the 1991 cold case, police said. He is charged with murder with special circumstances of murder during the commission of a rape and murder during the commission of a kidnapping, according to the Placer County District Attorney’s Office, which added he is also charged with kidnapping.

“This is one of the most notorious and heinous cold cases we have here in Placer County,” Sheriff Wayne Woo said in a news release. “We’ve never given up pursuing justice for Cindy and her family, we hope this is a small step in the healing process.”

Wanner vanished Nov. 25, 1991, from a Granite Bay home, where her 11-month-old baby was found crying in a high chair, and her shoes, coat and car were left behind, according to police. Three weeks later, after a massive investigation, she was found strangled to death in a remote area outside Foresthill, about 40 miles from where she was kidnapped, police said.

Authorities determined Lawhead was connected to the crime after advanced DNA analysis on a piece of evidence submitted to the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office Forensic Lab identified him, according to police.

Lawhead was 30 at the time of the crime and had been released from prison earlier the same year after serving 11 years for sex crimes involving a young child, police said.

Detectives determined that Lawhead had assumed a new identity around 2005, but using facial recognition comparison, they were able to find him in Arizona, where he had been living under the name Vincent Reynolds, according to police. He was booked into jail in Arizona and will be extradited to Placer County, police said.

“This arrest is a powerful reminder that time does not erase responsibility, and it does not diminish our commitment,” Placer County District Attorney Morgan Gire said in the news release. “Cold cases are not forgotten cases — they remain urgent, they remain personal, and they remain a promise we intend to keep.”

Lawhead’s sister, 71-year-old Terry Lawhead Steele, was arrested Saturday in South Carolina on an accessory charge, according to police, who said she had claimed not to have heard from her brother in over 20 years, but in reality, he had been living in a home she owned and evidence showed they had remained in contact.

Detectives are exploring the possibility that James Lawhead Jr. could be responsible for additional crimes, police said, and the Placer County Sheriff’s Office encourages law enforcement agencies, specifically across the West Coast, to look at cold cases that may have similarities to the Wanner case and call 530-889-7835.