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DNA Breakthrough Leads to Arrest in 1991 Killing of Cindy Wanner

Modern DNA testing paired with a photo database match exposed a long‑hidden alias to revive a path to accountability.

Placer County Sheriff’s officials announced the arrest of James Lawhead, Jr. in the kidnapping and murder of Cindy Wanner, a Granite Bay resident.
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Cindy Wanner, a married mother of two young children, disappeared without a trace from her sister’s home in 1991 before her remains were found three weeks later.

Overview

  • James Lawhead Jr., 64, arrested in Bullhead City, Arizona on Friday, April 24, is jailed in Mohave County awaiting extradition to Placer County.
  • Investigators say Wanner, 35, vanished from a Granite Bay home in 1991 with her baby left in a high chair, and her body was found weeks later near Foresthill with evidence of strangulation.
  • After years of dead ends, advanced testing at the Contra Costa County Forensic Lab identified Lawhead from a final piece of evidence submitted by Placer County detectives.
  • Following the DNA hit, a Scottsdale police analyst used Arizona’s driver photo database to match Lawhead to the alias Vincent Reynolds, and a search of his home turned up loaded guns, $15,000 in cash, and a burner phone.
  • Prosecutors filed kidnapping and murder charges with two special‑circumstance allegations of rape during a murder and kidnapping during a murder, and investigators also arrested his sister as an alleged accessory while they review possible links to other cases on the West Coast.