64-year-old man arrested in connection to 1991 cold case murder in Northern California
A 64-year-old man has been arrested in connection to a 1991 cold case murder that rocked Northern California 35 years ago, according to authorities. (Placer County Sheriff’s Department)
(BULLHEAD CITY, Ariz) — A 64-year-old man has been arrested in connection to a 1991 cold case murder that rocked Northern California 35 years ago.
The Placer County Sheriff’s Office announced a breakthrough on Monday in the 1991 kidnapping and murder case of Cindy Wanner, confirming that 64-year-old James Lawhead Jr. was arrested by authorities in Bullhead City, Arizona, on Friday.
Wanner was 35 when she vanished from her Granite Bay, California, home on Nov. 25, 1991. Her 11-month-old baby was found abandoned at the home in a highchair. Wanner’s car and coat were still at the home.
Wanner’s body was found three weeks later, strangled to death, in a remote area outside Foresthill, about 40 miles away from her home.
Lawhead Jr. was identified as the suspect by investigators thanks to advanced DNA analysis and testing, authorities said. He was 30 at the time of the crime and had been released from prison in early 1991 after serving 11 years of a 19-year sentence for prior sex crimes involving a child.
He appeared to have vanished completely, with no official documentation of his whereabouts since 2005. It turned out that Lawhead Jr. had been living in Arizona under a new identity as Vincent Reynolds.
In connection with the breakthrough, Lawhead Jr.’s 71-year-old sister, Terry Lawhead Steele, was arrested in South Carolina on Saturday on an accessory charge.
“Although Steele had spoken with law enforcement several times over the years, including with our detectives just weeks ago, and claimed she had not heard from her brother in more than 20 years, investigators discovered James Lawhead had been living in a home she owned,” Placer County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. “Evidence also showed the two had remained in communication.”
Detectives served a search warrant at her San Clemente, California, home on Sunday as part of the investigation.
“This is one of the most notorious and heinous cold cases we have here in Placer County. We’ve never given up pursuing justice for Cindy and her family, we hope this is a small step in the healing process,” Placer County Sheriff Wayne Woo said. “This breakthrough and arrest reflect the commitment of our office to solve cases; it’s why we pin on the badge and take the oath to serve. Our work is not done. James Lawhead will be brought back to Placer County where he will answer to the charges for this crime.”
Lawhead Jr. is currently booked in Arizona, where he will be extradited to Placer County to face charges. Detectives are also exploring the possibility that Lawhead Jr. could be responsible for additional crimes. It is unclear if Lawhead Jr. has obtained a lawyer.
“This arrest is a powerful reminder that time does not erase responsibility, and it does not diminish our commitment,” said Placer County District Attorney Morgan Gire. “Cold cases are not forgotten cases—they remain urgent, they remain personal, and they remain a promise we intend to keep.”
“Even when the path is long and difficult, there is hope. We will continue this work — steadfast and unwavering — because you deserve answers, you deserve justice, and you deserve to know that you are never forgotten,” said Gire.
The FBI is offering a reward of up to $1,000,000 for information leading to the arrest of Omar Alexander Cardenas. (FBI)
(WASHINGTON) — The FBI is now offering $1 million for information leading to the arrest of one of its “Top Ten Most Wanted Fugitives.”
Omar Alexander Cardenas is wanted by local and federal authorities for a 2019 murder in Los Angeles.
Cardenas is accused of firing several rounds at the victim, Jabali Dumas, at a barber shop on Aug. 15, 2019, according to the FBI. Dumas was struck in the head and died, authorities said.
Cardenas has “known gang affiliations,” and the shooting is believed to have been gang-related, according to Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell.
A local arrest warrant was issued for Cardenas in April 2020 after he was charged with murder, the FBI said. He is believed to have possibly fled to Mexico and has also been federally charged with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, according to the FBI.
The FBI initially offered a $100,000 reward for information on Cardenas’ whereabouts when he was added to its “Top Ten Most Wanted Fugitives” list in 2022. The reward, which subsequently increased to $250,000, has now surged to $1 million, the FBI announced on Tuesday.
McDonnell called the new reward a “critical step forward” in the case.
“We believe that someone knows Omar Cardenas’ whereabouts, and we’re urging anyone with information to please come forward,” the chief said during a press briefing on Tuesday. “Our mission is clear — to locate and apprehend Cardenas and bring justice for the Dumas family.”
Akil Davis, the assistant director in charge of the FBI Los Angeles field office, said the U.S.’ relationship with the government of Mexico “has never been stronger,” pointing to the recent apprehension in Mexico of another “Most Wanted” fugitive — former Olympic snowboarder turned alleged drug kingpin Ryan Wedding.
Davis shared a message directed at Cardenas.
“Mexico is not safe for you. Mr. Cardenas, if that’s where you’re hiding,” Davis said during the briefing. “I have full faith in this task force that they will bring you to justice.”
An F/A-18E Super Hornet, attached to Strike Fighter Squadron 151, prepares to make an arrested landing on the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in support of Operation Epic Fury, March 2, 2026. (U.S. Navy)
President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff revealed in an interview this week that Iranian negotiators told him in the lead-up to the U.S.-Israeli military operation in Iran that they had enough enriched uranium to “make 11 nuclear bombs.”
But since the major combat operations were launched on Saturday with the intent of crushing Iran’s nuclear ambitions, the administration has yet to publicly produce any concrete evidence on the whereabouts of the nuclear material or who is in control of it. The Israel Defense Forces claimed that at least 40 top military commanders were killed in the opening strikes of the conflict.
In an interview on Fox News, Witkoff told host Sean Hannity that as soon as he and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, sat down with the Iranian negotiators for denuclearization talks last month, their counterparts spoke of their stockpile of enriched uranium.
“Jared and I opened up with the Iranian negotiators telling us they had the inalienable right to enrich all the nuclear fuel they possessed,” Witkoff said. “We, of course, responded that the president feels we have the inalienable right to stop you in your tracks.”
Witkoff claimed the Iranian negotiators openly shared details about their supply of nuclear material.
“In that first meeting, both the Iranian negotiators said to us directly with, you know, no shame, that they controlled 460 kilograms of 60% [enriched uranium] and they’re aware that that could make 11 nuclear bombs,” Witkoff said.
Witkoff said the 60% enriched uranium can be brought to weapons-grade in about a week and that the 20% enriched uranium can be brought to weapons-grade in three to four weeks.
“They manufacture their own centrifuges to enrich this material,” Witkoff said. “So, there’s almost no stopping them. They have an endless supply of it.”
The statement appears to contradict what the Pentagon said last summer about Iran’s ability to develop weapons-grade uranium following U.S. strikes on its nuclear facilities.
In July 2025, Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s chief spokesperson, said at a news conference that that the strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities in June set back Iran’s capability to develop a nuclear weapon by “closer to two years.”
“It’s not just … enriched uranium or centrifuges or things like that. We destroyed the components that they would need to build a bomb,” Parnell said at the time.
But on Tuesday, that assessment fell to the wayside as the administration defended the U.S. military operation by insisting Iran posed an imminent threat to Americans. A senior administration official told reporters in a briefing that among the factors in the operation was that Iran had the ability to rebuild those components destroyed in the bombing, including its own centrifuges.
The official said a lot of the enriched uranium remained mostly in Isfahan with some still at Natanz and Fordo.
“It can be a long and cumbersome process in extracting it and covering it up,” the official said. “I think the first question is, where is it? The second question is, how do we get to it, and how do we get physical control? And then after that, it would be a decision of the president and department, the Department of War, CIA, as to whether we wanted to physically transport it or dilute it on premises.”
Iran has stated numerous times that it doesn’t want nuclear weapons, but believes it has the right to use nuclear power for civilian purpose. It had also been part of a nuclear deal with the U.S., which Trump withdrew from during his first term.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told ABC’s “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos on Sunday that the attack on his country was “unprovoked and unwarranted.” He said Iran was negotiating with the United States in good faith prior to the attacks.
“A deal was at our reach, and we left Geneva happily with the understanding that we can reach a deal next time we meet,” Araghchi said.
In their two public briefings on “Operation Epic Fury” in Iran, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, did not address what has become of Iran’s nuclear material since the widespread military strikes began on Saturday.
In several speeches since the attacks commenced, Trump has also not been specific about the status of Iran’s nuclear material.
Hegseth, Caine, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Secretary of State Marco Rubio conducted a closed-door briefing with members of the U.S. Senate and House on the Iran operation on Tuesday afternoon.
In a letter sent on Monday to the administration’s briefers, five top House Democrats — including Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Rep. Adam Smith, ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee — asked for information on nuclear security in Iran.
“Who currently controls Iran’s nuclear facilities and materials, and what safeguards are in place to prevent diversion or proliferation, or complete loss of control?” the Democratic lawmakers asked in their letter.
But following the briefing, Meeks said the briefers offered few answers.
“Here we are again without answers. Here we are again without complete transparency,” Meeks said. “Here we are again trying to go around Congress.”
Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said the briefers provided “no additional” information on the imminent threat that prompted the military operation, adding, “There’s nothing that we got that you don’t have.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., challenged any suggestion that the Trump administration was unclear during their briefing with House members about their objectives in Iran.
“This is really a very simple matter. It’s about the building of ballistic missiles. That’s what Iran was engaged in, and they were doing it at a speed and in a scale that was exceeding the ability of our regional allies to respond appropriately,” Johnson said. “This created an imminent and serious threat. It also gave them cover to continue with their nuclear ambitions.”
Johnson added, “As you know, we tried very hard to negotiate with them about that nuclear enrichment of uranium … and the buildup of their missiles was so important and so serious that the President of the United States, this president, thought that it was a great enough threat that we needed to act.”
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, said in a social media post on Tuesday that, based on the latest available satellite imagery, it “can now confirm some recent damage to entrance buildings of Iran’s underground Natanz Fuel Enrichment Plant [FEP].”
“No radiological consequence expected and no additional impact detected at FEP itself, which was severely damaged in the June conflict,” the IAEA said in the post.
In June 2025, the U.S. and Israeli militaries launched “Operation Midnight Hammer,” targeting three of Iran’s nuclear facilities — Natanz, Fordo and Isfahan — with “bunker-buster” bombs, according to the White House.
At the time, Trump said the operation “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s key uranium enrichment sites.
In a speech on Monday at the White House, Trump said that after “Operation Midnight Hammer,” Iran attempted to rebuild its nuclear facilities in another location, “because they were unable to use the ones we so powerfully blew up.”
“In addition, the regime’s conventional ballistic missile program was growing rapidly and dramatically, and this posed a very clear, colossal threat to America and our forces stationed overseas,” Trump said. “The purpose of this fast-growing missile program was to shield their nuclear weapon development and make it extraordinarily difficult for anyone to stop them from making these highly forbidden, by us, nuclear weapons.”
The Institute for Science and International Security said in a statement on Tuesday that its analysis of satellite imagery indicates the Natanz nuclear complex, Iran’s main uranium enrichment site, was struck twice during Saturday’s joint U.S.-Israeli attack.
Neither the Trump administration nor the Israeli government have confirmed the alleged strikes on the Natanz complex.
Meanwhile, Israel targeted a compound near Tehran linked to the regime’s nuclear weapons “capabilities,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in statement Tuesday.
After the U.S. targeted Iran’s nuclear facilities last year, Israel, which participated in the operation under the code-name “Rising Lion,” continued to track scientists connected to the Iran’s nuclear weapons program “and located their new location at this site in a manner that enabled a precise strike on the covert underground compound,” the statement said.
“The strike removes a key component in the Iranian regime’s capability to develop nuclear weapons and joins a series of strikes conducted during Operation ‘Rising Lion’ that were essential to eliminate the Iranian nuclear threat,” the IDF said.
-ABC News’ Mary Kekatos and Jordana Miller contributed to this report.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) seal on the J. Edgar Hoover Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) building in Washington, DC, US, on Friday, Jan. 2, 2026. (Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The FBI has invited elections officials around the country for a call later this month on the agency’s “preparations” for the high-stakes midterm elections, according to a letter sent to election officials and reviewed by ABC News.
The letter, which went out earlier this week, states that the FBI call will also include election officials from the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, United States Postal Inspection Service and Election Assistance Commission.
“To prepare for the 2026 US midterm elections, your election partners at the FBI, DOJ, DHS, USPIS, and the EAC would like to invite you to a call where we can discuss our preparations for the cycle, as well as updates and resources we can provide to you and your staff… We look forward to speaking with you in support of the 2026 midterm elections,” FBI staffer Kellie Hardiman, who signed the letter with the title “FBI Election Executive,” wrote.
The letter went to most election officials in the United States, according to a source familiar with the letter.
The offices of Arizona’s secretary of state and Utah’s lieutenant governor — the office that oversees elections in that state — confirmed to ABC News that they are among the offices that received the invite for the briefing, set to be held on Feb. 25.
The letter was first reported by Crooked Media.
Although it’s not unusual for government officials to have an election-security dialogue, the invite comes amid President Donald Trump’s ongoing false claims of voter fraud and the recent FBI raid of an elections office in Fulton County, Georgia.
The stakes are high for the upcoming midterm elections with the House majority on the line — as Republicans have a slim majority in the chamber.
