Three decades after Vacaville girl was bludgeoned to death, police announce arrest
De Anna Lynn Johnson was only 14 when she disappeared on a fall night in 1982 after attending a party just doors down from her Vacaville home. Hours later, a railroad worker found the teenage girl’s bludgeoned body in a nearby field.
In the days that followed, investigators with the Vacaville Police Department gathered evidence and talked to teens and young adults who had attended the party on Nov. 15, 1982. But memories of the night were “somewhat confused” because of alcohol and drug use, according to Vacaville police Lt. Matt Lydon. Eventually, the investigation into De Anna’s murder went cold.
For three decades, De Anna’s death haunted the detectives, who continued looking for clues.
On Wednesday, police announced that they had finally found the man who they believe killed her.
Marvin Markle, 51, was arrested Tuesday after the Solano County district attorney’s office granted an arrest warrant in De Anna’s murder, Lydon said at a news conference. Markle was already in custody at Kern Valley State Prison for another killing, authorities said.
Investigators would not reveal details about how they linked Markle to De Anna’s death after all these years. Lydon said, however, that detectives had amassed a large amount of evidence over the decades.
“It’s not one piece of evidence that turned this case,” he said. “It’s just pieces of the puzzle.”
Markle is now facing one felony count of murder, according to Solano County Dist. Atty. Krishna Abrams. Prosecutors allege that Markle used a rock to bludgeon De Anna to death.
Because Markle was 17 at the time of the murder, his first hearing will be in juvenile court, she said. The case will probably be transferred to Solano County Superior Court, Abrams said.
After years of searching for answers, Markle’s arrest brought some closure for police and De Anna’s family.
“Today is a day that De Anna’s family thought would never come,” her mother, Ginger Dimpel, said Wednesday. “She was taken from us at the age of 14, 34 years ago by the hands of a vicious, cowardly murderer.”
According to investigators, Markle was in high school at the time and attended the party. He had a conversation with De Anna, who was ninth-grader at Will C. Wood Junior High School, Lydon said. Markle and De Anna were not friends and had not been in a relationship, he said.
“He was always the prime suspect,” the lieutenant said.
In 2004, police learned that Markle was a suspect in the shooting death of Shirley Ann Pratt, 41, whose body was found Oct. 12, 2001, in the Oroville Wildlife Area in Butte County. Detectives teamed up with Butte County Sheriff’s Office investigators to solve the case, police said.
Markle was arrested in Pratt’s killing in July 2013 and convicted a year later. He was sentenced to 80 years to life in prison.
If Markle is convicted in De Anna’s slaying, the new sentence would be added to his current term, Abrams said.
For breaking news in California, follow @VeronicaRochaLA on Twitter.
ALSO
Man arrested in deadly shooting of Los Feliz gas station clerk
Human remains found in wreckage of Mt. Washington house that burned 3 months ago
San Diego high school student who was forced to urinate in bucket wins $1.25-million lawsuit
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
