Phoenix PD detectives arrest suspect in 20-year-old cold case murder
INDEPENDENT NEWSMEDIA
Posted 7/11/24
Twenty years to the day after a 15-year-old girl was found murdered at a Phoenix home and with the help of DNA testing, a man has been arrested as the suspect in the homicide, police said.
…
You must be a member to read this story.
Join our family of readers for as little as $5 per month and support local, unbiased journalism.
Current print subscribers can create a free account by clicking here
Otherwise, follow the link below to join.
To Our Valued Readers –
Visitors to our website will be limited to five stories per month unless they opt to subscribe. The five stories do not include our exclusive content written by our journalists.
For $6.99, less than 20 cents a day, digital subscribers will receive unlimited access to YourValley.net, including exclusive content from our newsroom and access to our Daily Independent e-edition.
Our commitment to balanced, fair reporting and local coverage provides insight and perspective not found anywhere else.
Your financial commitment will help to preserve the kind of honest journalism produced by our reporters and editors. We trust you agree that independent journalism is an essential component of our democracy. Please click here to subscribe.
Need to set up your free e-Newspaper all-access account? click here.
Non-subscribers
Click here to see your options for becoming a subscriber.
Register to comment
Click here create a free account for posting comments.
Note that free accounts do not include access to premium content on this site.
I am anchor
EXTRADITED
Phoenix PD detectives arrest suspect in 20-year-old cold case murder
(MCSO)
Sergio Reyes
Posted
INDEPENDENT NEWSMEDIA
Twenty years to the day after a 15-year-old girl was found murdered at a Phoenix home and with the help of DNA testing, a man has been arrested as the suspect in the homicide, police said.
Sergio Reyes, 37, was extradited from Mexico on Wednesday and booked into Maricopa County Jail for multiple violent felonies, including sexual assault and first-degree murder, in the death of Elena Lasswell.
Lasswell was found just after 8 p.m. July 10, 2004, when Phoenix police officers responded to a house in the neighborhood of 2700 North 21st Drive. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Officers interviewed several witnesses, and detectives took over the investigation, developing leads with no direct information as to who killed Lasswell, according to a Phoenix Police Department release.
Silent Witness was contacted, but detectives ran out of leads, and the case went cold.
In 2012, detectives used DNA collection techniques and were able to identify a profile that matched Reyes, police said. In March 2013, DNA evidence was processed and confirmed Reyes as the lead suspect.
A Maricopa County grand jury in 2014 indicted Reyes who was living in Mexico, prompting the the start of an extradition process.
Authorities, with the help of the U.S. Marshals Service, found an arrested Reyes.
We’d like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.