SOLANO COUNTY, Calif. — A man is being extradited to Solano County from Oregon after being arrested on suspicion of killing a 6-year-old in Vallejo.
Jeremy Stoner went missing from his home Feb. 21, 1987, just shy of his 7th birthday. His body was found four days later on Sherman Island in Sacramento County.
Now, 36 years later, Fred Cain III is being charged with murder and special circumstances including kidnapping, sodomy and lewd acts on a child, according to Solano County District Attorney Krishna Abrams. He is 69-years-old and lives in Central Point, Oregon.
"It's an unfortunate situation from start to finish. It's nice that hard work pays off and hopefully brings a little closure to the family. It can't bring Jeremy back, it's absolutely horrible what the family has gone through for the last 36 years, but hopefully this will bring slight comfort," Investigator Kevin Coelho said at a press conference Tuesday.
Abrams said Cain knew Stoner. She also said Cain was interviewed by police March 3, 1987, the same day another man was arrested in the case.
Abrams said DNA evidence helped lead to Cain, but it also exonerated a previous suspect, Shawn Melton.
Melton came forward with leads in the case and was later charged with Stoner's murder. Abrams said he was tried twice, but both times a jury couldn't deliver a guilty verdict, and the case against him was dismissed. Melton died in 2000 at 38-years-old. Abrams said although he isn't alive to be exonerated, DNA testing and evidence is important in these cases.
"I think that this death, this murder of Jeremy Stoner, it rocked this whole community. I wasn't here at that time, but just from everything I've read and all the people I've talked to that were around or part of this case, it really rocked the foundation of Solano County," Abrams said.
Cain was previously convicted of sodomy and rape in Contra Costa County in 1976.
Investigators with the Solano County Sheriff's Office investigators took another look at Stoner's death in Oct. 2022 and submitted evidence collected from his autopsy to a forensic laboratory for DNA testing. From there, a DNA profile was developed eventually leading to Cain.
Abrams said Cain will be transported to Solano County in the next couple of days and then be arraigned.
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