PHOENIX (AZ Family) — A cold case has ended after a suspect was arrested in the slaying of a Valley woman more than two decades ago.

The Phoenix Police Department announced Friday that 58-year-old Javier Lorenzano-Nunez has been found in Mexico and taken into custody for the 1998 death of 28-year-old Sarah Jane Carr.

On July 9, 1998, Phoenix police were called to a shooting inside a nearby home 14th Street and McDowell Road just before midnight. Once inside, officers discovered that Carr had been shot in the face, and she died from her injuries.

Authorities say the original detectives on the case only had a nickname for the suspect, but his identity was still unknown.

“We knew who did it, but we just didn’t have the person’s name,” said Det. Dominick Roestenberg with the Phoenix Police Homicide Unit.

The investigation went cold until 2016, when detectives identified the suspect as Lorenzano-Nunez.

Lorenzano-Nunez spent years in California after the murder and lived in Mexico for the past decade.

Phoenix Police and the Maricopa County Prosecutor’s Office issued an indictment and an arrest warrant for Lorenzano-Nunez. Phoenix detectives then contacted the U.S. Department of Justice, which worked with Mexican law enforcement to locate and arrest him.

Lorenzano-Nunez was brought back to Phoenix Wednesday night and charged with first-degree murder. His identity was verified by fingerprints.

Carr was a mother of six and loved by many.

“That was definitely one of the reasons that helped pave my way into law enforcement. The feeling I had that I would never get justice. It was something I didn’t want other people to feel,” said Garrett Miller, one of her children, who is now a police officer in Austin, Texas. “If I could give people a glimmer of hope that something could be done or some kind of closure, I would try to because I don’t want them to feel the way I did.”

“I know she’s super proud of Garrett and all her kids. Everyone is doing very well. She’s probably crying tears of joy right now,” said Peggy Carr, Sarah’s sister.

“After 26 years, the suspect in Sarah Carr’s murder will now face accountability and charges related to his actions in July 1998. The Phoenix Police Department’s Homicide Unit has once again shown its incredible work ethic and value its basic duty to honor every victim of every homicide in the city, no matter how old an investigation,” the police department said in a statement.

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