Florin Neighborhood Relieved After Arrest In Teen's 1996 Murder

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) - A man accused of killing a 13-year-old girl back in 1996 is finally being brought back to Sacramento to answer charges.

Terry Short Jr. was tracked down in Nevada, where he was incarcerated for an unrelated crime, to face charges that he killed Jessica Sanchez 16 years ago.

This murder has haunted Sanchez's south Sacramento neighborhood since it happened in 1996. Finally, there is some closure here after the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department says it has arrested the murderer.

"I don't want to believe it. I still don't want to believe it."

That's what the distraught stepfather of the murdered girl told CBS13 back in 1996. His stepdaughter was found dead in Florin Creek Park. She was raped and shot.

"When they found that girl dead over there, it really disturbed me because I had girls," Tony Kane, who lives near the park, said on Thursday.

That February night, neighbors told sheriff's investigators they heard screams and gun shots

But the investigation came up dry until late last year.

Investigators say DNA evidence found at the scene led to Short, who has been serving 10 years to life in a Nevada jail on drug charges.

Short is expected to be extradited to Sacramento County where he will be charged with the murder.

The arrest brings some closure for a neighborhood that has never forgotten what happened back in February 1996.

"It was real sad," neighbor Raymond Tyara said. "There was a candlelight vigil, all that stuff, and they though they'd never catch the guy, but I guess forensics paid off in the end."