Man pleads guilty in 1991 kidnapping, rape and murder of Granite Bay mother

More than three decades after the abduction and killing of a Granite Bay mother shocked Placer County, the man accused of the crime has pleaded guilty and agreed to spend the rest of his life in prison.

The Placer County District Attorney's Office announced on Tuesday that James Lawhead Jr., 64, entered a guilty plea to charges stemming from the 1991 kidnapping and murder of Cindy Wanner. As part of the plea agreement, Lawhead admitted to murder and kidnapping charges and acknowledged special-circumstance allegations that the killing occurred during the commission of a kidnapping and a rape.

Prosecutors said Lawhead also waived his appellate rights and accepted a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Wanner disappeared on Nov. 25, 1991, while caring for her 11-month-old child at her sister's home in Granite Bay. According to investigators, Wanner's husband arrived at the residence with their 4-year-old daughter and found the infant alone in a high chair.

Authorities said there were no signs of a struggle in the home.

Three weeks later, a hunter found Wanner's body dumped in a remote area near Foresthill, about 35 miles from where she was abducted. Authorities have said evidence indicated Wanner was kept alive for at least several days after she was kidnapped.

Prosecutors have described it as "one of the most notorious cold cases in Placer County history."

Earlier this year, investigators announced a breakthrough after advanced DNA testing on evidence collected during the original investigation identified Lawhead as a suspect. Detectives later tracked him to Bullhead City, Arizona, with the help of facial recognition technology and arrested him in May.

At the time of his arrest, authorities said Lawhead was a convicted sex offender who had been released from prison in 1991 after serving 11 years of a 19-year sentence for a Sacramento County home invasion in which he beat a grandmother and raped her 11-year-old granddaughter. The Placer County Sheriff's Office previously confirmed that Lawhead's release came roughly 10 months before he murdered Wanner.

Investigators also arrested Lawhead's sister, Teri Lawhead, on accessory charges, alleging she concealed information about her brother's whereabouts while he was living in Arizona under the name Vincent Reynolds.

Lawhead is scheduled to be formally sentenced on July 14 in Placer County Superior Court.