On Thursday, Phoenix, Arizona police announced the arrest in a 15-year-old girl’s murder, which had been unsolved for a decade, and the suspect evaded arrest for an additional decade.
In 2014, a decade after the murder, officers named Sergio Reyes, who is now 37 years old, as a suspect. However, authorities stated that Reyes was residing in Mexico around that time. Over the next few years, investigators collaborated with the United States Marshals Service to track down and return Reyes to the U.S. to face justice.
On Wednesday, he was taken into custody by the Maricopa County Jail on accusations related to the death of Elena Lasswell.
His arrest was precisely 20 years to the day of Lasswell’s murder.
Elena was discovered in a bedroom at her house on July 10, 2004, gravely wounded and unconscious, according to a separate statement regarding the case. When emergency help arrived, she was declared dead, according to the police.
The authorities said the case fell cold because investigators had few leads. However, in 2012, investigators employed novel DNA collection techniques and discovered a match for Reyes. He was confirmed as the main suspect in the Lasswell murder.
While Reyes was comfortably residing in Mexico in 2014, he was indicted by a Maricopa County Grand Jury.
The indictment initiated an extradition procedure. Phoenix police said that officials from the U.S. Marshals Service were instrumental in finding and apprehending Reyes.
The press statement states that on July 10, with the assistance of the United States Marshals Service, the police located and apprehended Reyes.
A bail of $1.5 million was imposed, according to jail records. A court date of July 17 has been scheduled for Reyes’ appearance on accusations of first-degree murder during a crime, sexual assault, first-degree murder-premeditated, second-degree burglary, and abduction.