Nearly four decades after a brutal killing rattled Northern Arizona University and the surrounding community, Flagstaff police say they have finally made an arrest. Detectives on Tuesday took Glendale resident James Arthur Runnels Jr. into custody, accusing him of fatally stabbing 24-year-old student Ina Claire Langstaff in 1987. Investigators say new forensic testing linked Runnels to the crime, reopening one of Flagstaff’s most haunting cold cases.
Langstaff was found stabbed outside her Old Town Flagstaff apartment on Nov. 7, 1987. For years, her killing loomed over the college town as families and detectives circled back to the file whenever forensic tools took a step forward.
Arrest and Charges
Flagstaff police say DNA evidence ultimately led them to Runnels, who lived in Flagstaff at the time of the killing and now lives in Glendale, according to FOX 10 Phoenix. The department worked with the Coconino County Attorney’s Office Cold Case Unit to pursue a first-degree murder charge.
Officials noted that despite extensive investigative work over the years, the case remained stalled for decades. The alleged break only came once investigators had access to more advanced forensic testing.
Victim and the Cold-Case Record
Coconino County’s cold-case records list Langstaff as having been found in an alley near Plaza Vieja on Nov. 7, 1987, her death categorized among unsolved homicides that investigators continue to monitor. The county entry underscores that no arrest followed the original 1987 investigation and that the case remained open…