Man arrested in 1998 slaying of 28-year-old Phoenix woman

PHOENIX — Phoenix police say a man has been arrested in connection with a 1998 murder.

On July 9, 1998, 28-year-old Sarah Carr was shot in her home near 14th Street and McDowell Road and later died.

The Phoenix Police Department’s homicide unit investigated the case and was only able to find a nickname for the suspect, and the case eventually went cold.

In 2016, cold case detectives were able to use new technology to connect the crime to Javier Lorenzano-Nunez, now 58.

Detectives learned that Lorenzano-Nunez had spent years in California after the murder and was now living in Mexico.

Over the years, a warrant has been issued for Lorenzano-Nunez’s arrest, and the US Department of Justice was recently able to work with law enforcement in Mexico to take Lorenzano-Nunez into custody.

“I think she’s dancing in heaven right now,” Peggy Carr, Sarah’s sister, told Phoenix police after the arrest.

Lorenzano-Nunez was then extradited to Phoenix and taken into Phoenix police custody on October 21, 2024.

“After 26 years, the suspect in Sarah Carr’s murder will now face accountability and charges related to his actions in July 1998,” the Phoenix Police Department said in a news release. “The Phoenix Police Department’s Homicide Unit has once again shown its incredible work ethic and its core value of honoring every victim of every homicide in the city, no matter how old an investigation.”