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Suspect Arrested in 25-Year-Old Model Murder Cold Case
Joanne Marie Jones
An arrest was made yesterday in the 1985 murder of Joanne Marie Jones, an aspiring model from Long Beach who was stabbed to death. Detectives from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department are working to extradite 59-year-old Stafford Joel Spicer, a Las Vegas resident, and believe he is Jones' killer, according to LA Now.Jones was reported as missing in late April 1985. "Her body was found in June of that year in a remote area of Azusa Canyon east of Highway 39."
This is actually the second time Spicer has been arrested for the Jones murder. After Jones' disappearance was reported, Long Beach police pulled over a man driving the 23-year-old woman's 1978 Chevy Camaro, explains Belmont Shore Patch. That man was Spicer, then 33. However, because of a lack of evidence, the authorities let Spicer go.
The case was re-opened in 2009 and DNA evidence became available for use in the case. Spicer was arrested by a cold case squad, who served him with an arrest warrant at his Las Vegas home.
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