Suspect in 1980 Slaying of Girl Sought in Baja

A suspect in the 1980 killing of a 7-year-old Pacoima girl is being sought in Baja California, Los Angeles police said Wednesday.

Police are hoping that a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the slaying of Lisa Ann Rosales will “induce someone to come forward now and tell us what they know,” Detective Cliff Ruff said Wednesday.

The City Council approved the reward Tuesday; Mayor Tom Bradley signed the measure Wednesday.

The reward offer will appear in Los Angeles and Baja newspapers, Ruff said, and will be valid for 60 days after publication.

Police said an anonymous tip three months ago led them to the suspect they believe is hiding in Mexico. The man, who was not identified, has a history of molesting children and lived and worked in Pacoima at the time of the Rosales killing, Ruff said.

Lisa Ann, who was in first grade at Granada Elementary School in Granada Hills, was kidnaped by a man in a yellow truck on Dec. 8, 1980, while walking home from school, according to a classmate who witnessed the abduction, Ruff said.

Her body was found in a ditch near Hansen Dam the next day. She had been beaten and sexually molested.