Robert John Lanoue, of Reno, Nevada, was charged last week with Anne Pham’s murder. Pham disappeared while walking to her kindergarten class at Highland Elementary School in Seaside, California, on January 21, 1982. Her body was found two days later at the former Fort Ord. The child had been kidnapped, sexually assaulted and strangled, California authorities said. According to court records, Lanoue waived extradition in Monterey County, California. As of Monday, he was still in the Washoe County Jail. Lanoue, who is a registered sex offender in Nevada, was 29 at the time of the girl’s murder and lived near her home in Seaside, Monterey County District Attorney Jeannine Pacioni said. The case was reopened in 2020 when investigators with the Monterey District Attorney’s Cold Case Team worked with the Maritime Police Department to submit evidence from the case for DNA testing after receiving a grant to reopen cases. Lanoue was charged with one count of first-degree murder, with special circumstance allegations that he murdered Pham while committing a kidnapping and an indecent act on a child under 14, Pacioni said. It was not immediately known if Lanoue has an attorney who can speak on his behalf. On July 6, California investigators obtained a warrant for Lanoue’s arrest, Pacioni said. Lanoue was already in the Washoe County Jail, where he was booked June 8 on a parole violation, records show.
