A 64-year-old man was arrested last week in connection to a decades-old murder investigation that had long haunted the affluent suburb of Sacramento where it occurred.

On 25 November 1991, Cindy Wanner, 35, vanished from her sister’s home in Granite Bay, California. Her husband arrived to the residence with their four-year-old daughter and found their 11-month-old baby alone, wailing and strapped to a high chair. Three weeks later, Wanner’s body was discovered 40 miles away in a secluded wooded area. She had died from strangulation.

“Arguably, this is one of the most heinous, notorious cold cases we have here,” said Wayne Woo, the Placer county sheriff, in a Monday news conference, as he stood beside an enlarged photograph of Wanner.

Woo identified the murder suspect as James Lawhead.

“We hope this arrest will help bring some justice and closure to Cindy Wanner’s family,” he said.

Investigators had linked Lawhead to the crime scene via forensic DNA analysis. Lawhead had been convicted of sex crimes and sentenced in 1980 to a 19-year term. After serving 11 years, he was released from prison in February 1991. It’s unclear what led to the early release.

“When he was sentenced, psychiatrists from the state classified him as a mentally disordered sex offender who was not amenable to treatment. Yet he was still released after 11 years and kidnapped and murdered Cindy Wanner within a year,” said Woo.

Lawhead ran afoul of the law a few times in the early aughts, including an arrest for failing to register as a sex offender in Placer county. He had been virtually unseen since 2005. Authorities believe he assumed a new identity, living as Vincent Reynolds.

Investigators had been searching for Lawhead, according to Woo, and were on the verge of enlisting the public’s help.

A fortuitous lead came recently after an analyst with the Scottsdale police department used the state transportation’s data to get a photo match of Lawhead.

He was arrested on 24 April in the driveway of his Arizona home, Woo said. After obtaining a search warrant, authorities seized several items from his home, including a bag that contained $15,000 and a burner phone.

Lawhead is facing murder and kidnapping charges, among others.

His sister, Terry Lawhead, has also been taken into custody on an accessory charge.

“She said she hadn’t seen or heard from her brother in over 20 years and that he may have possibly been dead,” Woo said. “Investigators later found out the home that Mr Lawhead had been residing in in Arizona was owned by his sister.”

In recent years, there have been several high-profile breakthroughs in cold cases due to the help of modern technology.

“Justice, just because the passage of time, doesn’t mean justice diminishes in importance,” Morgan Gire, the Placer county district attorney, said at the news conference.

Lawhead will be extradited from Arizona.