Vegas Police Arrest Suspect In 1985 Murder Of Long Beach Model
LONG BEACH (CBS) — An unemployed 59-year-old Las Vegas man was arrested on suspicion of murdering an aspiring Long Beach model in 1985, authorities said Thursday.
Stafford Joel Spicer was arrested in Las Vegas on Tuesday in connection with the death of Joanne Marie Jones, 23, whose body was discovered by hikers on a dirt roadway in a remote area of Azusa Canyon, east of Highway 39 on East Fork Road on June 8, 1985.
KNX 1070's Ron Kilgore reports Spicer is being held in the Las Vegas Detention Center and is awaiting extradition to California.
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The coroner's office determined that she had been stabbed to death, said Capt. Mike Parker of the Sheriff's Headquarters Bureau.
Jones seemed to have disappeared after spending the weekend at her boyfriend's Long Beach home on April 29. She left to go to work in West Covina, but never made it there, Parker said.
Several days later, Spicer, then 33, was spotted driving Jones' car, a 1978 Chevrolet Camaro, in Long Beach. He was arrested, but there was insufficient evidence to pursue murder charges.
Sheriff's Homicide Cold Case Detective Steve Davis re-opened the case in 2009 and uncovered DNA evidence that was presented to the District Attorney's Office. The case was filed.
Anyone with information about the case was asked to call Davis at (323) 890-5500.
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