Arrest made in cold case murder of Phoenix woman: PD
Man arrested in 1980s Arizona murder case
There has been a huge break in a murder case that happened nearly four decades ago, as Phoenix Police announce an arrest in the case.
PHOENIX - Phoenix Police announced the arrest of a man in connection with the murder of an 18-year-old woman, in what investigators called the department's oldest cold case homicide arrest.
What we know:
The suspect was identified in the statement as 70-year-old Alfred Earl Green.
Alfred Earl Green
According to police, Green was serving a prison sentence on an unrelated case when he was arrested.
The backstory:
Per investigators, Lachelle "Shelly" Waite was found dead in her home, located near 59th Avenue and Thomas Road, on Jan. 16, 1986.
"Investigators found no forced entry into the house and believed she knew the suspect to some degree," read a portion of the statement. "Personal property was stolen from the home at the time of the murder."
Lachelle "Shelly" Waite (Courtesy: Phoenix Police Department)
Detectives said while they had a strong investigative lead at the time, they did not have enough evidence to make an arrest.
The case, per the statement, went cold until 2016, when detectives with the Phoenix Police Cold Case Homicide Unit did a full review of the investigation, and found a piece of evidence that was collected at the scene, but couldn't be processed at the time.
"The evidence was processed, and after additional advancements in technology, this evidence was finally submitted for advanced DNA testing in 2022," read a portion of the statement.
Eventually, investigators identified Green as the suspect, and he was arrested on Feb. 20, 2025.
What's next:
Officials said Green was "charged with first-degree murder after detectives submitted the case to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office."
What they're saying:
"Being able to finally let the family know, and also let the community know that after 39 years, we're still working on these cases, trying to get justice for them, for the victims and their families, speaks to what this unit is all about," Phoenix Police Cold Case Detective Dominick Roestenberg said, in the statement.