Possible 30 Year Old Case Solved, Suspect Might Be Found Guilty of More 

By: Bailee Ward

For 30 years the answer of who killed Cindy Wanner remained a mystery, leaving her California home and her baby behind. She suddenly disappeared in 1991 in rattled residents of Granite Bay a suburb in Sacramento. A 35 year old mom of two had gone to clean her sister's home, where Cindy’s 11 month old baby was sitting buckled into the highchair crying where Cindy was nowhere to be found. A giant search was out and three weeks later her body was found in a remote area about 40 miles from her sister's home. Through the years the law enforcement was continuing testing the evidence without any sufficient evidence. There was many suspects but one in particular flew under the radar when detectives had submitted the jackpot evidence from her case. This piece of evidence had made a match to identifying James Lawhead Jr., 64 years old was taking in for questioning and was the prime suspect in this case. But investigators looking for Lawhead had found no trace of him and it said “ it appeared that he had just disappeared since 2005”. Said by Wayne Woo a Placer County Sheriff.  “ We explored all possibilities on what could have happened, whether he was still living under a fake identity, whether he had left the country, or whether he was deceased.” Wayne Woo. The detectives had asked other agencies for help and the Scottsdale Police Department, while using the Arizona Department of Transportation’s facial recognition system had found a match. This system is used to flag fake driver’s licenses, state IDs and suspected identity theft.  In Arizona, he wasn’t called or going by the name James Lawhead but instead was going by Vincent Reynolds and was living in Bullhead City near the states border of Nevada and 600 miles from Placer. Authorities believe that he could also be linked to other crimes as well. He was arrested on the driveway of his home on April 24 and after his arrest the investigators searched the house and had found loaded firearms, a bag with $15,000 as well as a burner phone. He is facing charges of murder and kidnapping. “This arrest is a powerful reminder that time does not erase responsibility, and it does not diminish our commitment,” Gire said in a statement following the arrest. His sister said that she hasn't seen or heard from  her brother James in more than 20 years. To help figure out more cases like this the Placer County Sheriff's Office released this comment, “We encourage law enforcement agencies, specifically those across the west coast, to look at any cold cases that may have similarities to this case and reach out to our team at 530-889-7835.” 

Source-https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/02/us/california-cindy-wanner-cold-case-arrest