Arizona police have arrested a homicide suspect they believe is connected to a decades-old cold case from 1996.
Whiteriver resident Romeo Massey Jr., 45, was arrested by Pinetop-Lakeside Police Department officials on Wednesday.
Police believe Massey is connected to the murder of Jody Hemphill, a man who was found stabbed to death inside the Mountain Edge Tapes & CD store on November 6, 1996.
Hemphill had been an employee of the music shop. Massey was around 18 years old at the time of the murder.
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The Pinetop-Lakeside Police Department said the cold case had been reviewed “numerous times” over the years, but new evidence helped detectives progress their investigation.
“In a recent review, new evidence was obtained and analyzed, leading to the arrest of 45-year-old Whiteriver resident Romeo Massey Jr.,” police said in a statement.
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Authorities believe another person was involved in the incident. They released a composite witness sketch from 1996 showing a man wearing a baseball cap backwards.
Police ask anyone who may have information about the case to contact them at 928-368-8800. They also have an anonymous hotline at 1-800-782-7463.
