Man pleads guilty in 35-year-old Placer County cold case

James Lawhead Jr. pled guilty Tuesday in connection to the kidnapping and murder of Cindy Wanner. Wanner was kidnapped from a Granite Bay home in the middle of the day on Nov. 25, 1991. Her remains were found three weeks later in a remote area of Foresthill. Lawhead, 64, was identified as the suspect after a DNA match made earlier this year and was arrested on April 24 in the driveway of his Bullhead, Arizona, home. Lawhead was extradited to Placer County on April 30. Terry Lynn Lawhead-Steele, Lawhead's sister, was also arrested on April 25 in Lancaster County, South Carolina, as an accessory due to her claim she had not spoken to her brother in more than 20 years. The investigation revealed Lawhead-Steele, 71, owned the Arizona home in which Lawhead resided. According to the online in-custody report, Lawhead-Steele was booked into Placer County custody on May 23. She is scheduled to appear in court at 8:30 a.m. July 14 in Department 20 of the Placer County Superior Court in Roseville. Lawhead is scheduled to be sentenced at 8:30 a.m. July 14 in Department 20. The Placer County District Attorney's Office reported Lawhead admitted the special circumstance allegations that the murder occurred during the commission of a kidnapping and rape. Additionally, Lawhead admitted an independent count of kidnapping, agreed to waive his appellate rights and accepted a term of life in prison without the possibility of parole. "The conviction brings a measure of accountability to one of the most notorious cold cases in Placer County history," the DA's Office said Tuesday.