More than three decades after a young mother vanished from a California home – and found dead just weeks later – investigators say the mysterious cold case has finally been cracked, thanks to advances in DNA technology and facial recognition.
The 1991 kidnapping and murder of Cindy Wanner, a Placer County mother, had gone unsolved for 35 years. Then came a break in the case.
On Friday, James Lawhead Jr., a 64-year-old convicted sex offender, was arrested in connection to Wanner’s murder. Authorities announced the long-awaited arrest Monday, revealing that Lawhead had killed Wanner just months after being released from prison.
Wanner disappeared on November 25, 1991, after going to her sister’s home with her 11-month-old child. Hours later, Wanner’s husband arrived with their four-year-old daughter to find the baby alone, strapped in a high chair and crying. Wanner’s shoes, coat and car were still there, but she was gone.
Three weeks later, a hunter found Warner’s body roughly 35 miles away. Investigators determined she had been raped and strangled, and likely held captive for a period of time before her death.
For decades, the case stalled. But recent DNA testing identified Lawhead as a suspect. Investigators then tracked him to Bullhead City, Arizona, where he had been living under the name Vincent Reynolds.
“Arguably, this is one of the most heinous, notorious cold cases we have here in Placer County,” Sheriff Wayne Woo said at a Monday news conference.
The break in the case came after Placer County investigators submitted evidence for advanced DNA testing. A separate lead came from Arizona, where a law enforcement analyst used the state’s transportation database to match Lawhead’s image through facial recognition technology.
“If there’s really an unsung hero in this case, there’s many, it’s an analyst from the Scottsdale, Arizona Police Department,” Woo said. “And this analyst used the Department of Transportation database in Arizona and got a match on a photo of James Lawhead.”
Investigators discovered that he had been released from prison in early 1991 after serving 11 years of a 19-year sentence for a violent 1980 attack in which he broke into a home, beat a 71-year-old woman unconscious and sexually assaulted her 11-year-old granddaughter. Wanner was killed about 10 months later.
“When he was sentenced, psychiatrists from the state classified him as a mentally-disordered sex offender who was not amenable to treatment,” Woo said. “Yet he was still released after 11 years and kidnapped and murdered Cindy Wanner within a year of his release.”
"The justice system here in California is broken. It is probably more broken than it was then, that allowed my Lawhead to be released after only serving 11 years," Woo added.
Lawhead later resurfaced in Placer County, where he was arrested in 2002 for failing to register as a sex offender and again in 2005 on a weapons charge. After that, authorities say, he disappeared and had changed his name, avoiding detection for years.
“And we explored all possibilities on what could have happened,” Woo explained. “Whether he was still living under a fake identity, whether he had left the country, or whether he was even deceased.”
After three decades, Lawhead was arrested at his Arizona home on Friday. Investigators said they recovered multiple loaded firearms, $15,000 and a burner phone from his home.
“Now we hope that this arrest will bring some justice and closure to Cindy Wanner’s family,” Woo said.
Authorities also arrested Lawhead’s 71-year-old sister, Terry Lawhead Steele, in South Carolina on an accessory charge. Investigators say she had denied contact with her brother for decades, but evidence showed she owned the Arizona home where he was living and had remained in communication with him.
“Although 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,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement. “Evidence also showed the two had remained in communication.”
Although an arrest has been made, the police work isn’t over yet. Retired cold case detective Troy Hillman said he believes there could be more victims, according to AZFamily.
“You know me personally, from what I’ve seen in my career, I’d say yes. I would say hopefully agencies go back; they develop a timeline for this guy and figure out where he’s been,” Hillman said.
“From what I’ve read, this guy was kind of an animal to begin with,” he continued, referring to Lawhead’s criminal histoery. “Typically, when they do time, they think about their craft and then they continue it, so I don’t know if you can rehab these guys. He belonged behind bars, yet evaded justice all this time.”
Authorities are now retracing Lawhead’s movements across Arizona, Oregon and Washington to determine whether he may be linked to other crimes or murders.
Placer County District Attorney Morgan Gire said prosecutors have filed one count of murder against Lawhead, along with special circumstances of rape and kidnapping, as well as a separate kidnapping charge. He is being held in Arizona pending extradition to California.
“This family has suffered in anguish for 35 years,” Gire said. “They deserve some accountability.”
