Lachelle “Shelly” Jeannine Waite was 18, when her older sister Annette found her dead at the home of her family in 1986. After nearly four decades, Phoenix police, Arizona, finally arrested a suspect.
Alfred Earl Green was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of killing Waite, according to Phoenix police, and accused of first-degree murder.
Green is already serving a life sentence in the department of corrections, rehabilitation and reentry of Arizona for ex-girlfriend’s murder, Yolanda Taylor, in 1988.
Lachelle Waite’s body was found in her mother’s room and the cause of death was determined as a strangulation.
There were no signs of forced entry into the house and the original investigators believed that the victim knew the suspect, according to Phoenix police.
“The detectives were able to identify that the suspect in this case was known to the victim through the victim’s boyfriend at the time,” explains Sergeant Brian Bower in statements to KNXV, a CNN affiliate.
At the time of Waite’s homicide, the detectives had a strong track, but they didn’t have enough evidence to make a detention and the case was filed, according to a Phoenix police press release.
In 2016, the Phoenix police case homicide unit decided to make a complete review of what had become the oldest case in the department. During the analysis, a proof collected at the scene of the crime that could not be processed at the time of the murder was identified and subjected to advanced DNA tests in 2022.
“After not giving up this case for almost a decade, trying to locate witnesses, identifying evidence and collecting data, the detectives identified Alfred Earl Green, 70, such as the suspect of the murder,” according to the statement.
The reason is still being investigated, according to police, reports KNXV.
A criminal accusation was presented against Green last month at the Superior Court of Maricopa County. The suspect attended a judge on Thursday, where prosecutors accused him of strangling the victim to death, stealing jewelry and a weapon from the residence and “selling them immediately after the murder,” the accusation said by KNXV.
When asked about the allegations, Green said, “I know she lied a lot,” referring to the prosecutor, according to KNXV.
Green is expected to be accused on February 27. CNN contacted its lawyer to comment on the matter, but to no avail.
“It can finally make known to the family and also the community that, after 39 years, we continue to work in these cases, trying to obtain justice for them, the victims and their families, it shows well what this unit is,” he says Detective Dominick Roestenberg in the Phoenix police statement.
Newly formed at Maryvale High School, Waite is remembered for his participation in a choir, dance and as a tutor of other students, according to archived newspapers of the time.
“Over the years, I approached Lachelle’s family and learned that Shelly was an amazing person,” says Roestenberg. “She was beautiful inside and out. It was affectionate, kind and had a fantastic future in front of him. ”
