By Dawn Sawyer, CNN
(CNN) — Lachelle “Shelly” Jeannine Waite was 18 years old when her older sister, Annette, found her dead in their family home in 1986. After nearly four decades, police in Phoenix, Arizona, have finally arrested a suspect.
Alfred Earl Green was arrested Thursday on suspicion of killing Waite, according to Phoenix Police, and charged with first-degree murder.
Green is already serving a life sentence at the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation & Reentry for the killing of his ex-girlfriend, Yolanda Taylor, in 1988.
Waite’s body was found in their mother’s room, and the cause of death was determined to be strangulation.
There were no signs of forced entry to the home, and original investigators believed that the victim knew the suspect, according to Phoenix PD.
“The detectives have been able to identify that the suspect in this case was known to the victim through the victim’s boyfriend at the time,” Sgt. Brian Bower told CNN affiliate KNXV.
At the time of Waite’s murder, detectives had a strong lead but not enough evidence to make an arrest, and the case went cold, according to a Phoenix PD news release.
In 2016, Phoenix PD’s Cold Case Homicide Unit decided to conduct a full review of what had become the department’s oldest cold case. During their review, a piece of evidence collected at the scene that could not be processed at the time of the murder was identified and submitted for advanced DNA testing in 2022.
“After not giving up on this case for nearly a decade, attempting to locate witnesses, identifying evidence and collecting data, detectives identified 70-year-old Alfred Earl Green as the suspect in the homicide,” according to the release.
A motive is still under investigation, according to the police, reports KNXV.
A criminal indictment was filed against Green last month in Maricopa County Superior Court. The suspect appeared before a judge Thursday, where prosecutors accused him of strangling the victim to death, stealing jewelry and a gun from the residence and “(selling) them immediately after the murder,” prosecutors said, according to KNXV.
Asked to respond to the allegations, Green said, “I know she did a lot of lying,” referring to the prosecutor, according to KNXV.
Green is expected to be arraigned on February 27. CNN reached out to his attorney for comment.
“Being able to finally let the family know, and also let the community know that after 39 years, we’re still working on these cases, trying to get justice for them, for the victims and their families, speaks to what this unit is all about,” Detective Dominick Roestenberg said in the Phoenix PD release.
A recent graduate of Maryvale High School, Waite is remembered for her participation in chorus, dance and as a tutor for other students, according to archived newspapers from that time.
“I’ve gotten close with Lachelle’s family over the years and I’ve learned what an amazing person Shelly was,” Roestenberg said. “She was beautiful inside and out. She was caring, kind and had an amazing future ahead of her.”
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