DNA leads to arrest of man accused of killing 6-year-old boy in 1987, CA officials say
A man was the prime suspect in the 1987 California murder of a 6-year-old.
Decades later, DNA evidence exonerated him and led to the arrest of another man, officials said.
A 6-year-old was abducted in 1987 near his home in Vallejo and was found dead four days later about 40 miles east in Sherman Island, according to a Sept. 22 news release by the Solano County District Attorney’s Office.
The same year as the body’s discovery, Shawn Melton was arrested and charged with murder and kidnapping after showing knowledge of the case that police thought only the killer would know, officials said.
After advancement in DNA technology, Melton, who died in 2000, according to the Los Angeles Times, was exonerated and police arrested Fred Cain III on Sept. 18, officials said.
Although Melton never went to prison because the jury couldn’t reach a verdict, officials said, police questioned him because “he remained a suspect,” a relative of Melton’s told the L.A. Times.
“He wished that people knew and believed him when he said that he was innocent,” his mother, Janis Melton, told the L.A. Times.
Cain was arrested at his home in Central Point, Oregon, about 270 miles south of Portland, by District Attorney investigators and Jackson County Sheriff’s Office deputies, officials said.
“I hope he rots in Hell, he got what he deserves,” Cain’s niece, Cris Delaney, told KGO.
Cain was transferred to Solano County Jail in Fairfield, California, where he faces charges of murder with special circumstance allegations of kidnapping and sodomy, officials said.
“If I found out he died and I was able to show up and see him I’d literally, I would not mourn, I’d spit in the man’s face if I could go face-to-face with him, absolutely,” Delaney told KGO.
The Solano County District Attorney’s Office asks anyone with information about the case to call 707-784-8477.
Sherman Island is about 50 miles southwest of Sacramento.
Newborn found dead in recycling center a decade ago, Oregon cops say. Now man arrested
16-year-old girl killed 45 years ago, Washington cops say. DNA now identifies suspect
Man tells the FBI he raped and killed a woman 44 years ago, Massachusetts officials say
