US: Police arrest suspect in 1986 murder of 18-year-old girl

After nearly four decades, Police in Phoenix, Arizona, United States have arrested a suspect in the 1986 murder of 18-year-old Lachelle “Shelly” Jeannine Waite.

Authorities announced that 70-year-old Alfred Earl Green was taken into custody on Thursday and charged with first-degree murder. 

Green, who is already serving a life sentence for the 1988 killing of his ex-girlfriend, Yolanda Taylor, was identified as the suspect following a renewed investigation by Phoenix police.

Waite’s older sister, Annette, found her strangled in her mother’s bedroom. Police said there were no signs of forced entry, leading investigators to believe she knew her attacker. 

“The detectives have been able to identify that the suspect in this case was known to the victim through the victim’s boyfriend at the time,” Sgt. Brian Bower told CNN affiliate KNXV.

Despite early leads, a lack of evidence prevented an arrest, and the case went cold. A breakthrough came in 2016 when the Cold Case Homicide Unit reopened the investigation, later identifying a piece of evidence that could be processed with advanced DNA testing. The results, submitted in 2022, led detectives to Green.

“After not giving up on this case for nearly a decade, attempting to locate witnesses, identifying evidence and collecting data, detectives identified 70-year-old Alfred Earl Green as the suspect in the homicide,” a Phoenix Police Department news release stated.

A criminal indictment was filed last month in Maricopa County Superior Court. In court on Thursday, prosecutors accused Green of strangling Waite, stealing jewelry and a gun from the home, and “(selling) them immediately after the murder,” according to KNXV. Asked to respond to the allegations, Green said, “I know she did a lot of lying,” referring to the prosecutor.

Green is scheduled to be arraigned on February 27.

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Waite, a recent graduate of Maryvale High School, was known for her involvement in chorus, dance, and tutoring fellow students. 

“I’ve gotten close with Lachelle’s family over the years and I’ve learned what an amazing person Shelly was,” Detective Dominick Roestenberg said. “She was beautiful inside and out. She was caring, kind and had an amazing future ahead of her.”

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