LAS VEGAS, June 16 (UPI) -- Las Vegas police announced Tuesday they had cracked the cold-case death of a 7-year-old girl whose body was found in a trash bin on Easter Sunday 1994.
Metro Police told a news conference Greg Wallen, 36, had been arrested in Parhump, Nev., on charges he sexually assaulted and murdered Diana Hernandez at her family's apartment complex.
Detectives said analysis of forensic evidence from the scene nailed down their case.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported Tuesday detectives called Wallen a pedophile and have concluded the abduction of Hernandez was a crime of opportunity.
Police told the Review-Journal Wallen came to their attention in January when they learned he had lived near the Hernandez family at the time and had a brush with the law in 1992 involving a juvenile.
The newspaper said Wallen was among the many volunteers who combed the area on the day before Easter after the child had been reported missing.
