Anne Pham murder: Nevada man Robert Lanoue held on $1M+ bond in 1982 California slaying of 5-year-old girl

The elderly Nevada man accused of kidnapping and killing his 5-year-old neighbor more than 40 years ago in California was ordered held on bond of more than $1 million in connection with the allegations, court documents show.

A California Superior Court judge ordered Robert John Lanoue’s bail set at $1,020,000 after the 70-year-old was charged with the first-degree murder of 5-year-old Anne Pham, according to an arrest warrant provided to Fox News Digital on Monday. The arrest warrant was dated Wednesday, July 6 — the same date that a criminal complaint was also filed briefly detailing the allegations, documents show.

Matthew L’Heureux, deputy district attorney for the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office, said Monday that Lanoue was not believed to have retained an attorney to represent him in the reopened cold case. Lanoue had not yet entered a plea.

He waived extradition on Monday, but it was not immediately clear when he would be moved to California from his hometown in Nevada. 

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“The Monterey County District Attorney’s Office is grateful for the combined efforts of the multiple local, state and federal agencies that resulted in the ability to identify and charge the suspect in the murder of Anne Pham,” L’Heureux wrote in an email to Fox News Digital. “Because the criminal case is pending and Mr. Lanoue is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, we do not wish to make any additional comments at this time. 

He added: “We look forward to presenting the evidence in court.”

Five-year-old Anne, a Seaside, Calfornia, resident, was last seen on Jan. 21, 1982, while she was walking to her kindergarten classroom at Highland Elementary School, officials said.

Her body was discovered two days later within Fort Ord, which was a military base at the time. Local news reports recounted that Pham was found to have been sexually assaulted and suffocated.  

Lanoue was 29 and lived in Seaside at the time, where he was the girl’s neighbor, according to authorities and FOX 11. He later moved to Reno, Nevada, in Washoe County, where he was arrested and is being held. 

The murder case remained unsolved for decades before the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office Cold Case Task Force and the Seaside Police Department reopened the investigation and submitted evidence for new DNA testing. 

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“A new type of DNA testing not previously available to earlier investigators identified Lanoue as the suspect in Pham’s murder,” a district attorney’s office press release states. 

Lanoue was charged with first-degree murder with two enhancements that alleged “lewd act on a child” and kidnapping,” according to a criminal complaint provided to Fox News Digital. 

The document alleges that Lanoue carried out Anne’s murder while she was kidnaped and while he “was engaged in the commission of or the attempted commission of the crime of performance of a lewd and lascivious act upon the person of a child under the age of 14 years.” 

He is currently being detained in a Washoe County jail pending extradition to California. Washoe County Sheriff’s Office records show that Lanoue was also charged with violating conditions of his parole. 

Officials are asking anyone with information related to the case to call Investigator Justin Bell at 831-755-5070.