PHOENIX - Nearly 37 years ago, 13-year-old Amy Yachimec went missing from her family apartment on West Van Buren Street in Phoenix.
Amy's mother filed a missing persons report with the Phoenix Police Department the next day. Raymond Diaz was a suspect in the case decades ago, but there was insufficient evidence for an arrest.
The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office announced Thursday they arrested Diaz, 61, for one count of first degree murder in connection with the death of Yachimec.
MCSO took over the case in 1988 after new evidence suggested Yachimec was killed in MCSO's jurisdiction.
Detectives treated it as a murder investigation for decades, gathering new evidence, interviewing old witnesses. In March 2015, MCSO says new DNA evidence linked Diaz to the murder of Yachimec.
With the new evidence, old evidence and witness statements, MCSO worked with the Maricopa County Attorney's Office Cold Case Unit in arresting Diaz. Diaz was already serving a sentence in state prison after convictions for kidnapping and sexual assault.